For Utah high school swim teams, it was the event they had been working toward for an entire year, when they met Friday night at BYU to determine who would win individual medals and team trophies.

With Brighton the overwhelming winner, the Lehi swim team managed to capture a silver trophy in the boys’ competition, and Lone Peak finished a strong third in the girls’ division and fourth in the boys’. American Fork girls finished seventh, and boys took 10th place. 

Only one person wins a race, but all the competitors can get better. Accordingly, here’s just a few of the many accomplishments of American Fork athletes who qualified to represent their programs in the state events this year:

• In the boys 200 medley relay, junior Ethan Pollock, senior Daryk Childs, sophomore Steven Okelberry and senior Ethan McAllister improved just enough to qualify for Sectionals as they came in seventh.

• In the girls 200 free relay, the eighth-seeded squad took nearly two seconds off their mark to finish sixth with freshman McKenna King, junior Katie Steele, sophomore Miranda Graves and senior Syd Young.

• The Cavemen dropped nearly 5.5 seconds off their seed time to earn a Sectionals berth as they finished seventh in the girls 400 free relay with Graves, sophomore Sam Buker, Young and King.

• Shaving more than five seconds off their seed time, McAllister, Childs, Okelberry and Pollock jumped from 11th to sixth place in the boys 400 free relay to earn a spot at Sectionals.

• King moved up to sixth in the 200 free by cutting 3.32 seconds from her mark. A 1.38-second improvement moved her to sixth in the 100 back as well.

• Okelberry cut 3.06 from his time and jumped four spots in the 200 free.

• Pollock subtracted 1.73 seconds from his 200 IM seed time to capture the silver, and he also earned bronze in the 500 free.

• Young jumped six spots in the 200 free by taking 3.09 seconds off her seed mark and also moved up four spots in the 100 free.

American Fork’s Miranda Graves swims in the second heat of the women 100 yard freestyle at the Utah High School State 5A Swimming Championships at BYU in Provo on Friday, Feb. 8, 2013. SPENSER HEAPS/Daily Herald

Beky Beaton contributed to this report.