Competing at the Class 4A level after spending the past handful of years in 5A, the Murray swim team excelled in the pool at the state swimming championships Feb. 16-17. The Spartan boys team placed second at state, while the girls came in third out of 22 schools. 

The boys scored 248.5 points, well behind champion Crimson Cliffs, which totaled an impressive 338. However, Murray was far and away the second-best team on the boys’ side, as the third-place team, Sky View, had 163 points. Meanwhile, the girls tallied 177 points, behind Park City (261 points) and Ridgeline (292). 

This year’s state meet was quite a bit different for the Spartans than it was a year ago in the 5A ranks. Murray was 16th on the boys’ side and 22nd on the girls’ in 2022. 

For the Murray girls, junior Kathleen Richter had one of the best performances for the Spartans. She captured the championship in the 200-yard individual medley relay by swimming the event in 2:11.93, barely defeating the runner-up by .01 seconds. She was also fourth in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:00.85. Her sister, Brooklyn Richter, just a freshman, duplicated Kathleen’s feat, this time in the 100 freestyle. Brooklyn placed first in the event, swimming it in 52.41 seconds, .09 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. Brooklyn was also second in the 50 free. In this sprint, she finished the event in just 24.07 seconds, .22 seconds behind the winner. 

Murray’s 200 free relay team was second on the girls’ side, finishing the race in 1:42.93. The team, composed of Brooklyn Richter, Kinlee Cook, Natalynn Davies and Kathleen Richter, was only 2.33 seconds behind first-place Ridgeline. Also, the girls did well in the 400 free relay. Brooklyn Richter, Marie Haas, Adelaide Stoddard and Kathleen Richter combined to swim the relay in 3:44.93 to place second overall. 

Individually for the boys, senior Zach Richter won the 100 free with an impressive time of 47.09 seconds, half a second ahead of the runner-up. He also brought home the 100 breaststroke title coming up with a great time of 59.66 seconds to win. Also, freshman Marcus Richter was sixth in the 200 free, swimming it in 1:459.16. Marcus was also third in the 500 free, swimming it in 4:56.37. Junior Riser Lundberg tied for fifth in the 200 individual medley. He finished the race in 2:05.32. In the boys 50 free, junior Austin Sorensen was sixth with a time of 22.02 seconds, while junior Aiden Martin was eighth with a time of 22.72 seconds. Sorensen and Martin were also sixth and eighth, respectively in the 100 free. 

The boys performed well in relays too. 

The Murray boys captured the 200 free relay title with a time of 1:29.20. Zach Richter, Marcus Richter, Martin and Sorensen teamed up for the big accomplishment, beating the competition by .55 seconds. Sorensen, Marcus Richter, Martin and Zach Richter also combined to win the 400 free relay. Their efforts of 3:16.42 were 2.28 seconds ahead of the next-best group. λ