Sedona’s two local club swimming teams competed at the Beat the Heat meet at Northern Arizona University’s Wall Aquatic Center from Friday to Sunday, June 1 to 3.

Verde Valley High Performance’s growing team took home 23 top-three finishes for a 218-point outing. Meanwhile, it was the first meet for new Sedona Swordfish head coach Daniel Morse. The Swordfish combined for 16 top-10 finishes.

The course was also the penultimate of the long course meters season for the summer. Carlos Lattanzi of VVHP recently turned 13 years old, thus moving up an age group, but has already begun to adjust to the competition.

Lattanzi won the high point award for the 13- and 14-year-old boys age group with a total of five first place finishes, two seconds, two thirds, one fourth, one fifth and one sixth.

His best race was the 200-meter individual medley [2:28.88], finishing second among swimmers across all age groups. Lattanzi was first in the 400-meter freestyle and 400-meter individual medley, in which he finished third overall regardless of age.

The trio of Sarina McCullough, Renae Porteous and Bryce Kirk combined for three first-place swims and 11 second places. McCullough and Porteous are part of the original group of VVHP swimmers, with Kirk and others recently joining the team.

Kirk won the 50-meter butterfly [37.31], 13-year-old Porteous won the 100-meter breaststroke in 1:26.32 and was second in the 50 butterfly [32.18].

McCullough, 12 years old, won the 400 IM [6:27.02] and was second in the 50 butterfly [34.06]. Another new member, 15-year-old Jaxon Oles, was sixth in the 50 butterfly. Eleven-year-old Isabella Mussa did not place high but dropped significant amounts of time in the 200-meter freestyle and 100-meter butterfly.

Nine-year-old Sana Bhakta and 10-year-old Lucy Spielman also competed. Spielman finished in the top 10 in five events.

Swordfish Return Under New Coach

Seven Swordfish swimmers swam at the Flagstaff meet, led by club veterans Andrew Tate, Zach and Dezra Dana and Emma Warner.

“That was my first meet with the team and it was a positive experience overall,” Morse said. “We weren’t expecting big time drops at this time of the season, so our goal was to simply compete well and our swimmers all raced hard and supported each other, which was great for me to see as their new coach.”

Tate, 15 years old, turned in top-10 swims in eight of nine races; his best finishes came in the 400 freestyle [4:56.17] and 800-meter freestyle [9:58.56], both good for fifth place.

Sixteen-year-old Zach Dana swam eight events, cracking the top 10 in two events. Dana was ninth in the 200-meter breaststroke [3:02.81] and seventh in the 100-meter breaststroke [1:18.68].

Dana’s 15-year-old sister Dezra swam six events, her top placing being a 15th place swim in the 200 breaststroke [3:36.57].

Warner also competed in nine events, racking up five top-10 finishes. The 16-year-old was a state qualifier with Mingus Union High School this past season in the individual medley and breaststroke events, and took third in the 100 breaststroke [1:24.06] over the weekend.

Warner finished fourth in the 50-meter breaststroke [39.23] and sixth in the 400 IM [6:17.58].

Ten-year-old Adam Conrad swam in two events, taking third in the 100-meter freestyle [1:29.52].

Fourteen-year-old Aleana Cricks swam in three events, as did 14-year-old Isabella Constante.