Purple rained hard, heavy and long at the 16th annual Tooele Invitational swim meet Friday and Saturday.

Swimmers from either purple clad Lehi or Tooele captured gold medals in all but one of the 24 events.

In the end, Lehi's depth proved plenty enough to topple Tooele 1106 to 1007. Cedar City was a distant third with 753 points followed by Juan Deigo, Canyon View, and Uintah. Grantsville finished 10th with 49 points.

In addition to strong performances from the frontline seniors, the Water Buffs' younger corps of up-and-comers made significant time drops to help propel Tooele to the second place finish.

"I was really surprised by the times on all our relays," coach Mel Roberts said. He noted that the boys 200 medley, 200 free, and 400 free relays all turned in their best times for the year. And the girls' medley and 400 free relays hit season bests.

The boys teams captured first places in all three relays starting off with Skyler Smith, Dustin Perkins, Stefen Chevalier, and Matt Ricci eclipsing the 1:50 barrier with a 1:49.16 showing.

Ricci, Gilbert Nichols, Jordan Knighton, and Mat Snarr coasted to a five second win in the 200 free relay. Tooele's 400 free relay team nipped Lehi by less than one second as Snarr anchored that team that included Ricci, Chevalier and Nichols.

Mary Burden led the Tooele girls team by striking gold in her sprint specialties, the 50 free and 100 free. Tiffani Smith won the 100 breast by a gnat's eyelash - .02 seconds - over South Summit's Kristi Lambert.

Snarr cruised to a first-place finish in the 200 individual medley and picked up a second individual gold in the 100 free.

Sophomore Perkins made an impressive invitation showing winning both the 100 individual medley and the 100 breast.

Other gold winners for the Water Buffs included Ricci (50 free) and Chevalier (100 back).

Roberts says the Invitational is especially important in developing confidence in his younger swimmers.

"Jennifer Gardner, Stephanie Lee, Casey McEachern, and Skyler Smith all made significant time drops."

Coach Roberts expressed appreciation to all the officials and volunteers who help make the meet run smoothly.

"Every time I turned around there was a coach or fan saying 'Thanks, for the great meet,'" he said. "That's only possible because of all the volunteers who are committed to making it a first class meet."

Tooele hosts Mountain View Tuesday afternoon before the Christmas break. They have two dual meets remaining in January before the Region meet in Provo on January 18 and 19.