By Josh McFadden | [email protected]

There were a lot of swimmers and a lot of noise at the Richards Building swimming pool on the campus of Brigham Young University Feb. 14 and 15. Some competitors from Bingham High School contributed to the excitement. 

Twenty-one girls teams and 20 boys squads converged upon the pool for the Class 6A state meet. These 41 teams joined an even bigger number of 5A schools for their championships during the same two days. 

The Bingham girls placed sixth with 118 points, 22 behind fifth-place finisher Riverton. It was a nice improvement over last year’s 10th-place showing. 

“The team did very well, and I was happy with their performance,” head coach Rachael Kankamp said. “We had some solid swims.”

The Miners qualified 15 swimmers for the state meet, six of whom swam fast enough times in the Feb. 14 preliminaries to return to the pool for the final events. 

Junior Brynna Thompson did well in the 50-meter freestyle. In this sprint event, she finished with a time of 25.63 seconds, 0.52 seconds behind the winner. She also earned points for her team by coming in eighth in the 100 free, swimming it in 56.7 seconds. 

Grace Huber qualified for the finals in the 500 free. She was just three seconds away from cracking the top 10 in the race. She completed the event in 5:38.76 for 11th place overall. Huber was also 11th in the 200 free with a final time of 2:05.84. 

Bingham had another sixth-place finisher in senior Hallie Huber. She swam the 100 backstroke in 1:01.60. Less than two seconds behind her was teammate Jess Gilchrist, a senior. She came in ninth at 1:03.42. 

Senior Sara Wimmer reached the Saturday finals in the 100 breaststroke. She placed 14th with a time of 1:16.42. She was also 13th in the 200 individual medley, finished the challenging race at 2:25.76.

The Miners were also Region 3 champions on the girls’ side, making the season as a whole a positive one. 

“Looking back, I think we had a successful season,” Kankamp said. “There were many personal best times. We are very happy with everyone’s performances.”

Measuring this success isn’t all about where the team placed in the standings. Kankamp is pleased with the girls’ efforts and for their individual accomplishments. 

“This season, I will remember how hard the athletes worked,” she said. “I will also remember the excitement and happiness the swimmers had after achieving their goals.”

Kankamp expects to build on this season’s finish and continue to compete with some of the top teams in the state.