SWAMIs Finish 8th at Utah Senior State Meet

By Stan Frank, Salt Lake Beacon Beat Writer

WASHINGTON CITY, UT --  In Race Swami's first ever short course Senior State Meet held at Washington City Pool in southern Utah, the Swami athletes represented well for the vaunted Green & Gold, cashing in on a number of great performances to finish 8th as a team.

With a mere six swimmers, albeit very fast swimmers, Swami placed high in virtually every event they entered. Starring roles were had by the likes of Seamus Appel on the men's side, and Amelia Wolfgramm and Autumn Wolfgramm on the women's side. 

In all, Swami came out smoking in the finals after mustering up just enough in the early morning prelims.

"Some mornings, it was just hard to wake the body up," a tired but powerful Amelia Wolfgramm said. "We just need to learn to swim faster in the prelims so we know we make it to top 8 in the final."

Still, most of the Swamis ended up swimming a second time in their respective races, and thus, Top 10 became a reality for the team. 

"It's tough when you only have 6 athletes at the meet, but we rallied," said Seamus Appel, also known as "Big Red" due to his flaming orange mop atop of his well-proportioned head. "We had a lot of fun. The guys even had some relays so we all got to swim under the lights."

Though it was Race Swami's best finish yet in a state-wide competition, there will be little rest for the weary. Up next for Amelia Wolfgramm is the Western Sectionals in Seattle, WA, where she will swim a total of six races, alongside teammate Alandra McDowell, who gets to swim the mile along with the 400 meter freestyle.