From The Salt Lake Herald-Beacon

By Larry J. Kozlowski III

HYRUM, UT—Don't look now, but here come the Judge Memorial Bulldogs. Though it might seem like eons ago to the legions of rabid Tribe fans thirsty to celebrate another swim title, really, it was only just February of 2005 when Judge Memorial last hoisted the State Championship trophy in triumph. Back then, they had just finished closing out on winning a third straight title.

Then the program said goodbye to nine graduating seniors and had few replacements in their stead. The team fielded just 11 swimmers the following season, yet still managed to place 4th at State, a remarkable feat considering most teams field as many as 18. The next year was worse, as the Bulldogs had just nine athletes competing, and they finished that year by placing 11th at BYU.

Last year was the most promising since the year they won it all. With 11 athletes again, Judge took 4th place at State, though they would be losing three very talented swimmers to graduation (better than nine).

This year surely looked like another rebuilding job for coaches Matt Finnigan and Giulia Longo. But then something funny happened on the way to the first day of swim practice.

"About twenty boys showed up," Longo recollected. "We didn't know what to think of it because we never had 20 boys before, not even when I was swimming here," the '04 graduate said. "We use to have to go out and beg boys to come to the pool. Now we don't even know where to put them all."

Because most of the boys team is young--75% of the roster is comprised of freshmen--this season could be construed as a rebuilding year... but don't tell the boys that.

"We think of it as a 'development' year," swimming star Oliver Diamond said. "We'll develop and then we'll go to State and then we'll surprise a lot of people."

Consider the Logan Grizzlies, a favorite to win a State title, one of those surprised. They saw firsthand over the weekend at the Pepsi Challenge Invitational in Hyrum, as Judge beat them for the first time in four years, by 9 points.

Diamond, with the help of fellow juniors Willis Schafer, Will Voytovich and Thomas Hanlon, seemed to give Logan all they could handle. Bring in senior Will Bowers and sophomore Pat Murnin and the Bulldogs actually look mildly threatening to the favorite.

"Sure, they realize this was just a regular season Invite, but still--none of these current kids had ever beaten Logan before, so it was fun for them; it was a big deal," Finnigan stated.

The boys team will continue to grow in the coming days, as senior Pat Grogan and junior Dylan Cawdery return to the pool from a season out on the gridiron. Look for these two to add some much needed depth in a number of events where the Bulldogs appear thin.