By Chuck Reherman
Sports Editor
EDMOND – Yukon school history was set Saturday at the class 6A State Swimming Championships.
Junior Isaiah Auld became the first YHS swimmer to win and individual medal when he placed fifth in the 200-yard freestyle event in the meet, held at the Edmond Public Schools Aquatics Center in Mitch Park.
Auld had earned his spot in the finals when he swam to a third-place finish in the preliminaries the day before. He swam a qualifying time of 145.94. He finished fifth with a 146.13 time just .26 of a second out of fourth place.
“It feels out of the ordinary because people I don’t even know are saying great job,” Auld said. “I have not experienced anything like this and it makes me feel like I’m getting my name out there.
“I felt really good after the prelims not only because I had skipped entire seconds and gotten the time I did but because of everyone giving me a pat on the back saying that it was a great race,” he said. “And my thoughts for finals were to go out harder in the first 100 and keep pushing to try to get a better time.”
Auld got off to a good start in the finals and was in the hunt for a top three finish after the second lap. He went on to finish in fifth place.
“I was trying to focus on keeping the same speed and keeping my flip turns as fast as I could,” Auld said.
The finish has helped the junior set a goal for his senior season.
“I hope to go into the next year more experienced from all year round meets with my cloud team and improve all my times by several seconds and helping my teammates get better times on their events and see them get medals whether it’s through a relay or individual event,” Auld said. “I am very pleased with how this year has gone with me and the team even all improved so much since the being and placing at state only made the ending of school swim all the better.”
Auld also finished 10th in the 100-yard backstroke finals in a time of 55.25 seconds. Auld just missed the A finals swimming ninth in the preliminaries in 55.08. He was five-hundreths of a second out of making the A finals.
Logan McIntyre had qualified for the state meet in the 100-yard butterfly. He finished 21st in the preliminary rounds in 55.62. seconds.
The 400-yard freestyle relay team of McIntyre, Dane Bouse, Phillip Monsey and Auld swam to an 11th place finish, placing third in the B finals. The team swam a time of 3:45.65. The team had also finished 11th in the prelims in a time of 3:48.83.
The 200-yard medley team of Auld, Aydan Howard, McIntyre and Bouse finished 14th in the B finals in a time of 1:52.60.
“It was an exciting weekend for us,” YHS head coach Bruce Clifton said. “Isaiah became the first state medalist in Yukon’s swim history. The relays did cut time yet they finished at the same seed they went into the finals with. That’s state for you.
“Logan didn’t make the finals but like I told him, he was one of two from our team to swim at state so he has nothing to be ashamed of,” he said, “Overall the boys came in 13th which was a good showing based on our limited number of entrants. I’m happy with how it all turned out. Now we just need to focus on getting more swimmers there next year.”
The Millers finished 13th with 39 points.
