Records fall, Cibola claims 4th-straight GVR title

It may not be very surprising that the Cibola boys swim and dive team won its fourth-straight Gila Valley Region title. The way in which they won it certainly is.

The Raiders placed first with a team score of 603 on the boy's side, 271 more than the second place finisher, but the Cibola girl's team was unable to make it a clean sweep as it fell to Lake Havasu by a 10-point margin.

Havasu's girls finished with a team score of 432 followed by Cibola at 422. Gila Ridge placed third (375), Yuma High fourth (258) and Kofa fifth (243). Kofa finished in second place for the boys with a team score of 332 followed by Gila Ridge (331), Havasu (277) and Yuma High (239).

Cibola's Andrew Russell-Cheung finished first in the 100-yard breaststroke, the 200-yard freestyle and was on the boys 200-yard medley relay team which also placed first. His finish in the 100 breast, at 1 minute, 3.65 seconds, was a new region record.

"(The preliminaries) was an OK swim, but today I got back to my original time like I’ve wanted to," Russell-Cheung said. "Now I can race the big guys (at the state meet) and see how I can deal with them."

According to Cibola coach Richard McClure, the Raiders should qualify a swimmer for each of the state meet's events. That would give Cibola an opportunity to compete for the team championship.

"Any time you qualify for each race it gives you a shot at finishing in the top 10," McClure said. "I just hope we'll get that shot."

Gila Ridge swimmer Emily Reh qualified for state after placing first in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle. Her time in both races were new region records and helped lead Gila Ridge to a third place finish in the girl's competition.

"I’m ecstatic, it’s like as big an accomplishment as taking second at state last year," Reh said of her record-breaking performance.

Reh, a junior, said that she was confident in her ability to place at state again. Her coach, Rachael Eggers, shared that sentiment.

"I think she is mentally and physically prepared for it," Eggers said. "Today she showed up to swim, swam her race, did her best, broke some records and just performed phenomenally."

Reh was the only swimmer from Gila Ridge to qualify for state outright, but Eggers said that she believed the Hawks could send as many as eight boys and girls to the state meet.

Myriah Frabasilio provided the only first place finishes for the Criminals taking the 200- and 500-yard freestyle. Her finish in the 200, 1:57.56 was a region record.

"I’m excited to go to state with that time," Frabasilio said. "I was worried because I haven’t swam under two minutes this year until yesterday, going under two again was just icing on the cake."

Kofa's Johnathan Duran won the 50-yard freestyle, but his time of 22.50 was .14 seconds shy of a region record. second place was claimed by Cibola's Jarron Boggs who shaved .29 seconds off his preliminary time to finish at 23.25.

The state meet will be held Friday and Saturday in Mesa at Kino Aquatic Center.

---

Matt Maxson can be reached at
mmaxson@yumasun.com or 539-6866