Park City High School’s swimming teams capped off their regular-season slate with a meet against Olympus, the two-time defending boys state champion and reigning girls state champion. Though both the boys and the girls came up short against the Titans — the boys lost 193-80, and the girls were edged out 144-132 — Park City used the meet to celebrate its seniors and to swim against quality competition.

“I felt that was a really good last home meet of the year,” coach Jacob Beach said. “I think it puts us in a really good spot for end-of-the-year championships at regions and states as well.”

Midway through the meet, the competition was brought to a halt to commemorate Park City’s senior class. The Miners’ seniors have been valuable leaders for the rest of the squad and for Beach in his first year at the helm. Beach had nothing but praise for their contributions.

“The senior class, to me and what I’ve seen throughout the season, is just leadership and setting a good precedent for the rest of the team,” Beach said. “I really looked to them early on in the year to kind of help guide me through what the team dynamic was, the culture, things they liked about the culture, things they wanted to see changed. So, they provided a lot more for me than just times in the pool. They provided a lot of insight that I need to get this program off the ground.”

Beach singled out seniors Cassidy Bryan and Tyler Peabody for their leadership. Bryan has been swimming for the Miners all four years, while Peabody took his junior year off to focus on school. Both swimmers said that one of their favorite parts about swimming on the team has been the team itself.

“The swim team has kind of been like my family,” Bryan said. “I’ve always tried to come to every practice, and I like everyone on the team. It’s been a good place for me mentally, too. It helps me take a break from outside things.”

Peabody joked that the only reason why he came back for his senior season was to receive the traditional blanket that all seniors are given at the end of the season. Peabody, who said he plans on serving a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before attending Utah Valley University for civil engineering, added that he enjoys the feeling of improvement that swimming gives him.

“It’s always just a good feeling when you look at the scoreboard, and you see that your time went down and you’re proud of yourself,” he said. “You’ve been preparing for weeks, and it’s a good feeling to have that.”

While Park City’s swim teams boast plenty of talented underclassmen, this year’s senior class left an impact both in and out of the pool. Beach said at the beginning of the year that he wanted to give his swimmers plenty of control of the program, and it appears that he put that control in the right hands.

“Those two, I couldn’t have asked for better leaders coming into this program,” Beach said. “They’ve really shown how friendly and also just how fun it is to swim. They’re not the most competitive when they’re in the pool, but they have a lot of competitive drive, and I think it speaks more to the type of person they are than what their times say.”