Judge Memorial girls swim team takes regional 4A title

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Judge Memorial Catholic High School swimmers prepare for a relay. Courtesy photo/JMCHS

SALT LAKE CITY — The Judge Memorial Catholic High School girls swim team competed for the first time against Class 4A schools and became the 2014 UHSAA Region 6 champions.

"Regardless of whether a swimmer contributed 30, 3 or zero points, this was a team victory," said Dan Gibbs, assistant coach, speaking about the Region 6 tournament, held at the South Davis Recreation Center Feb. 1. "It was an inspirational day for us coaches and one we will not forget. Coach Gail Meakins and Coach Justin Gibbs developed and executed a season-long practice strategy that resulted in many personal bests and the potential of adding four or five more swimmers to the state roster."

Eight schools such as Kearns, Highland and Woods Cross compete in Region 6, and "they have big and very talented swimmers," said Meakins. "They scored a 16 in each event and we had enough core swimmers who could score a 4 and place in each event and that is how we won, but that won’t be the case at the state meet."

Although the Bulldogs moved up to Class 4A this year, "we really haven’t prepared any differently; we train the same regardless of who our competition is," said Meakins. "The challenge we had this year was losing our pool time at the University of Utah Steiner Aquatic Center. We’ve had a very interesting workout schedule; we would swim either late at night or early in the morning. The competition in the 4A state meet is so much bigger and faster than the competition in 3A ever was. We’ve also had a tough year with injuries and illnesses."

Ten girls and four boys from Judge Memorial qualified for the state championship meet, which will be held Feb. 13-14 at Brigham Young University.

The Bulldogs’ boys team is small this year, said Meakins. "Our boys swam hard and were competitive despite their small numbers, and improved their personal best times."

The coaches did a "phenomenal job working with the student athletes despite their consistent lack of pool time in establishing a presence for Judge in Class 4A this year," said Brett Allen, Judge Memorial athletic director. "Judge has a strong swimming background and has raised its expectations for 4A. Gail has done a great job communicating with the coaching staff to prepare the swimmers to the best of their ability to raise the bar for the 4A competition."

Meakins was the Judge Memorial girls swim coach from 2001 to 2005, earning the 2003 Girls State Coach of the Year. She led both the girls and boys teams to state championships in 2003, 2004 and 2005.

"Gail was one of the architects of the Judge girls swim program that went on to earn nine state titles in 10 years, the initial three under her tutelage and the next six under the guidance of now-retired high school swim coach Matt Finnigan," said Allen.

Meakins has taken a number of years off from formal coaching to focus on her studies. She earned a second master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Utah, and now is a doctoral candidate in planning, policy, and design and is a research assistant with the university’s Metropolitan Research Center.