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Provo • Yes, Cottonwood junior Rhyan White could have made the safe play when preparing for this year's Class 5A state swim meet.

She's already won two state championships in the backstroke, one as a freshman for Herriman in 2015 and another last year for the Colts. White also won the 100-yard butterfly for Cottonwood last year and would have been favored to do it again.

But this Colt apparently likes to race, not just win easy races.

So White set her sights on the 200-yard individual medley, where she certainly would showcase her talents in the back and fly. But it is an event that is currently the stage for another talented youngster in Brighton sophomore Rachel Butler.

Butler won the 200 IM in '16 and has a good half-foot height and reach advantage over the 5-foot-6 White.

Those little facts seemed only to get the juices flowing even more for the Cottonwood standout, as White tore out to a large advantage over the first two strokes and then held on for victory — a very, very narrow win as White's time of 2:05.53 bettered Butler's mark by only two-hundreths of a second.

"Rachel's really fast and a good competitor, so I really wanted to beat her," White said. "I wanted to do the 200 IM because I really like to race, more than just winning.

"I knew that it would be a really close race, and I think she was really nervous too," she added. "I just watched her — I like doing that with my competitors. I was excited that she was just as nervous as I was."

Thursday night's competition at the BYU pool was the first day of the 5A championships, which will conclude Friday night.

Although White also kicked off Cottonwood's girls win in the opening 200 medley relay, the Colts fell rather quickly behind Sky View, which ended Day 1 with 125 points, followed by Brighton (95.5) and Cottonwood (95).

A similar pattern played out on the boys side.

Lone Peak, with a win in one relay, enters the second day with a 46.5-point cushion over second-place Viewmont.

Pleasant Grove, which got a surprise win from sophomore Devin Bunnell in the 200 freestyle, sits at third.

Cottonwood's boys, despite getting two individual first-place finishes, sits at fifth in the team category.

The final event of the night was won by Colts junior Christian Simon, who tore through the pool to touch first in the 50 free. Cottonwood sophomore Blayze Kimble also motored to a win in the boys 200 individual medley.

After the medal presentation, Kimble admitted he didn't know much about his competition heading into the race.

"It's just something I've done myself," said the sophomore of his event preparation. "You're going to get ahead by focusing on yourself and not other people." —

Top 3 finishers

GIRLS

Team standings • 1. Sky View, 125; 2. Brighton, 95.5; 3. Cottonwood, 95; 4. West, 80; 5. Lone Peak, 48; 6. Fremont, 44; 7. Riverton, 40; 8. Lehi, 39; 9. American Fork, 38; 10. Bingham, 34; 11. Viewmont, 33.5; 12. Syracuse, 23; 13. Jordan, 22; 14. Westlake, 14; 15. Copper Hills, 13; 16. Davis, 12; 17. Clearfield, 10; 18. Mountain Crest, 7

200 medley relay • 1. Brighton, 1:49.80; 2. Cottonwood, 1:50.50; 3. Sky View, 1:50.53

200 freestyle • 1. Mariah Maile, Viewmont, 1:51.86; 2. Megan Brimhall, Sky View, 1:53.96; 3. Natalie Davis, Lone Peak, 1:58.28

200 IM • 1. Rhyan White, Cottonwood, 2:05.53; 2. Rachel Butler, Brighton, 2:05.55; 3. Kyrie Sutherland, Fremont, 2:11.44

50 freestyle • Fane Wolfgramm, West, 24.02; 2. Alexa Walters, Sky View, 24.55; 3. Lexi Stimpson, Sky View, 24.90

BOYS

Team standings • 1. Lone Peak, 114.5; 2. Viewmont, 68; 3. Pleasant Grove, 64; 4. Mountain Crest, 63.5; 5. Cottonwood, 60; 6. Brighton, 56; 7. Sky View, 53; 8. American Fork, 48; 9. West, 44; 10. Riverton, 41; 11. Syracuse, 26; (tie) Weber 26; 13. Bingham, 24; 14. Westlake, 23; 15. Davis, 21; 16. Copper Hills, 20; 17. Roy, 15; 18. Lehi, 4; 19. Fremont 2

200 medley relay • 1. Lone Peak, 1:36.04; 2. Brighton, 1:36.42; 3. Sky View, 1:41.25

200 freestyle • 1. Devin Bunnell, Pleasant Grove, 1:42.43; 2. Zachary Julien, Viewmont, 1:43.54; 3. Mitchell Simmons, West, 1:44.12

200 IM • 1. Blayze Kimble, Cottonwood, 1:55.48; 2. Zachary Sannar, Viewmont, 1:57.31; 3. Colin Dailey, Cottonwood, 1:58.95

50 freestyle • 1. Christian Simon, Cottonwood, 21.45; 2. Kimble Petersen, Westlake, 21.67; 3. Josh Ries, Lone Peak, 21.71