Payson’s Bulkley, Timpanogos’ Harris shine in 4A state swimming finals
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- Payson junior Avery Bulkley celebrates after winning the 200-meter freestyle during the 4A state swimming finals at the Richards Building in Provo on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Timpanogos junior Raiden Harris competes in the 100-meter backstroke during the 4A state swimming finals at the Richards Building in Provo on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Payson junior Avery Bulkley competes in the 200-meter freestyle during the 4A state swimming finals at the Richards Building in Provo on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Timpanogos junior Raiden Harris (center) poses for a photo after winning the 100-meter backstroke during the 4A state swimming finals at the Richards Building in Provo on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Orem sophomore Mateo Flores Montes De Oca competes in the 200-meter individual medley during the 4A state swimming finals at the Richards Building in Provo on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Payson junior Avery Bulkley (center) poses for a photo after winning the 500-meter freestyle during the 4A state swimming finals at the Richards Building in Provo on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Timpanogos junior Raiden Harris (center) starts the 100-meter backstroke race during the 4A state swimming finals at the Richards Building in Provo on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Payson junior Avery Bulkley celebrates after winning the 500-meter freestyle during the 4A state swimming finals at the Richards Building in Provo on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Supporters of Payson junior Avery Bulkley cheer her on during the 500-meter freestyle during the 4A state swimming finals at the Richards Building in Provo on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Orem sophomore Mateo Flores Montes De Oca (right) receives the first-place medal after winning the 200-meter individual medley during the 4A state swimming finals at the Richards Building in Provo on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Payson junior Avery Bulkley competes in the 200-meter freestyle during the 4A state swimming finals at the Richards Building in Provo on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Timpanogos junior Raiden Harris reacts after winning the 50-meter freestyle during the 4A state swimming finals at the Richards Building in Provo on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Orem sophomore Mateo Flores Montes De Oca starts the 200-meter individual medley during the 4A state swimming finals at the Richards Building in Provo on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- The Provo 200-meter freestyle relay team competes during the 4A state swimming finals at the Richards Building in Provo on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Payson junior Avery Bulkley (second from left) starts the 200-meter freestyle during the 4A state swimming finals at the Richards Building in Provo on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
Competition in races at the state swimming championships can be widely varied.
In some races, like the 50-meter freestyle, all the competitors are so bunched together that it can be virtually impossible to tell immediately who won.
In others, like the 500-meter freestyle, swimmers can be so far in front that they can’t even see the other athletes.
And looming over all of the participants is the ever-present competitor: the clock.
That’s the one that really matters to many swimmers like Payson junior Avery Bulkley.
“I really just wanted to hit around my times,” Bulkley said. “It wasn’t about the place. It wasn’t about winning. It was about setting personal records. I just wanted to swim faster than I have because I put in so much work. I want the work to pay off.”
It’s pretty safe to say that Bulkley did well at achieving that goal in Saturday’s 4A finals at the Richards Building in Provo. In doing so, she also had a tremendous overall performance.
The talented Lion star pulled away from the field in the 500-meter freestyle in pursuit of a 4A record.
“I definitely knew that it was there and I knew that I knew that I could break it,” Bulkley said.
She said that as she reached for the wall, all she could do was hope she did enough.
The scoreboard told her and everyone else in attendance that she had. Her time, 5:01.67, broke the previous 4A mark by more than a second.
She said the while the 500-meter freestyle is the longest race of the event, Bulkley said that it doesn’t seem that long when she’s swimming.
“Definitely thinking about is a little scary,” Bulkley said. “It’s a long race. It’s five minutes. But when you’re in it, it just flies by. It’s just so fun to swim.”
Bulkley explained that she has come to embrace the pain that comes with competitive swimming.
“It hurts but the pain is so good,” Bulkley said. “You find the pain but I’m like, yeah, it hurts like heck, but you just keep going.”
The record-setting 500-meter freestyle was Bulkley’s second individual title of the day. Earlier in the meet, she faced a tougher challenge but pulled away at the end to win the 200-meter freestyle.
“Winning was the best feeling, so beyond like anything I’ve had before,” Bulkley said. “I just missed winning this race in the past two years and I just can’t believe now I won. This year I won.”
The Payson junior also helped propel the Lions to two solid relay performances as well, and ended up being named the 4A girls swimmer of the meet.
One of her closest competitors for that title was Timpanogos junior Raiden Harris, who also won a pair of state titles.
“It was very rewarding after all the work I put in,” Harris said. “I’m excited I got to compete against so many great competitors. I was sick the week before so I was a little nervous but I’m happy I got to swim.”
Harris’s first title of the day is the most unforgiving race at state. Any mistake in the 50-yard freestyle usually means someone else wins.
“It’s just who can be the most perfect honestly,” Harris said. “You have to have a really good start, and good tempo. The turn is usually my strong point in that race. That’s really important, having a strong breakout off the ball. I just think mine were a little bit better than the other competitors.”
Harris touched the wall in 23.85, 0.22 seconds faster than Murray freshman Brooklyn Richter.
Her second victory was in a race that has some similar elements but also has differences as she won the 100-meter backstroke.
“That one is mostly decided in the turns and underwaters,” Harris said. “I could see Matty Alonso next to me after 50 meters, so I picked on my tempo. I tried to have a really good underwater off the last wall. It’s similar to the 50 but there’s a little bit more room for error.”
The only other Utah Valley swimmer to win a race in the 4A finals was Orem sophomore Mateo Flores Montes De Oca, who made an impressive comeback in the boys 200-meter individual medley.
After the first two legs, the Tiger swimmer found himself trailing the leader by more than two seconds.
Fortunately for Flores Montes De Oca, he was able to make up almost all of that time in the breaststroke, then capped things off with a strong freestyle performance to win the title in a time of 3:03.10.
While there were some stellar individual performances, none of the Utah Valley teams had the depth to compete for the 2024 4A titles.
Payson girls had the best finish, ending up fifth, while the Provo girls and Orem boys ended up eighth. Ridgeline won the girls title, while Crimson Cliffs won the boys division.
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