Soaring Eagle freestyle relay sets state record

Intermountain Catholic

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Kelsey Leeson celebrates after touching the wall on the anchor leg of the 200 freestyle relay during the region championships on Jan. 20. Leeson and her Juan Diego Catholic High School team mates set a state record with a time of 1:41:16. Courtesy photo/Juan Diego Catholic High School

DRAPER — The record has been four years in the making.

Megan Stephanz and Kelsey Leeson have been swimming freestyle for the Juan Diego Catholic High School swim team since they were freshmen. This year, at the Region 10 championship on Jan. 20, as seniors, they and two of their team mates set a state record time of 1:41:16 in the 200-yard freestyle relay. It is the first state swimming record for the Soaring Eagle team.

Stephanz was first off the blocks in the race, and Leeson anchored the team.

"Since Megan and I were freshmen we have been looking forward to getting a very good time in at least one relay," said Leeson, who also claimed the Region 10 championship in the 50 free and 100 fly individual events, and was a member of the 400 free relay team that won the region championship.

Last year the two were on a relay that was 1.3 seconds off the state time, they said, so they set the goal of breaking the record. They received encouragement from their coach, John Moran, who told them that if they achieved their goal this year, they could shave off his mustache.

"We always joke that he was born with a mustache because we’ve never even seen a photo of him without it," Stephanz said, "so after state it looks like we’re going to finally shave it off and see if there’s actually a lip underneath."

Stephanz also was a member of the champion 400 relay team, along with team mates Justine Connell and Alaina Finley.

The state record, however, came in the 200 free relay, with Leeson, Stephanz, Finley and junior Erin Testone. Stephanz had only swum this event a handful of times with the other three this season. She took the place of another swimmer, who became sick and was unable to compete.

Finley, a sophomore, is in her first year for the Soaring Eagle team; she was out last year with an injury. Her season peaked at the region championship meet, when she cut a second off her split as the third person in the relay.

She knew she had done well, but then had to wait while Leeson dove in for the final leg. "I was a little bit nervous because it was … How do I put it? You’re never quite sure how the other swimmers are feeling," Finley said.

Leeson was feeling just fine, even after she touched the wall at the end of the race. "Usually you stay in the pool when you finish because you’re so tired," she said. However, when she saw the clock, with its record-winning time, "you get that adrenaline…You jump out of the pool and hug your team and just scream and shout. You don’t even care what people think."

Morgan attributes the team’s performance to the swimmers "improving tiny little aspects of their stroke, and those little aspects over time make a huge difference later on, and it came together at the right time."

After the race, he congratulated the team, then posed a question. "I said, ‘You girls did great, but let me ask you a question: Do you think you can go faster?’ and every one of them said ‘yeah.’"

Testone said she hopes to break the new record at the state championship meet, which is this week at Brigham Young University.