The 2015 Arizona Division I High School Championship meet felt like “deja vu all over again,” as the Chaparral girls secured back-to-back state championships, and the Brophy Prep boys won their 28th consecutive state championship.
Girls Meet
The Chaparral girls led this meet from start to finish, as they won all three relay events and four individual events, and had A-finalists in every event except one, to take the championship by 125 points over Desert Visa High School, 359 to 234.
On the individual side, last year’s star of the meet, sophomore Taylor Ruck, once again led the way for Chaparral. She won the same two events as last year, the 200 free and the 500 free, and in both instances she broke the state records she had set last year. Her time of 1:46.51 replaced last year’s mark of 1:47.76 in the 200 free, and she knocked a whopping six seconds off her mark in the 500 free, going from 4:51.68 last year to 4:45.17 this year.
Ruck was not the only Chaparral girl to win two events, however. Junior Emma Broome also doubled, winning the 100 fly in a time of 55.07 as well as the 100 back. In the latter event, she beat out last year’s champion senior Matti Harrison of Arcadia High School, 54.80 to 55.62.
Junior Savannah Carlson, also representing Arcadia, repeated as champion in the 200 IM, winning with a time of 2:02.94. Pinnacle junior Alyson Yancy also successfully defended her title from last year in the 100 breast. She touched out sophomore Claire Grover of Boulder Creek 1:02.62 to 1:02.76. By that point, however, Grover had already secured an individual championship, as she won the 50 free earlier in the meet with a time of 23.42.
Senior Allie Worrall of Xavier High School was the other individual event winner, as she touched first in the 100 free with a 51.79.
Chaparral also swept the relay events. They started the meet by winning the medley relay with a time of 1:44.62 and continued their winning ways in the Ruck-less 200 free relay, beating Desert Visa 1:36.99 to 1:37.37. At the end of the session, Chaparral punctuated their championship by setting a new state record in the 400 free relay, with their time of 3:26.47 eclipsing the previous record of 3:26.86, set by the girls of Pinnacle High School last year.
Team Scores:
- Chaparral – 359
- Desert Visa – 234
- Pinnacle – 219.50
- Xavier College Prep – 204
- Arcadia – 177
Boys Meet
The Brophy Prep boys won their 28th straight state title this weekend, a streak that began in 1988. At that time, Ronald Reagan was the President of the United States, the world news was abuzz with Mikhail Gorbachev and glastnot, and many current members of USA Swimming National Team were not even born.
This year, Brophy Prep “only” won two events, but rode their depth to win by a wide margin, topping Mountain View High School 302 to 207.50. Junior Jack Blake was Brophy Prep’s only individual event winner, thanks to his 45.75 in the 100 free. Brophy Prep also took the 200 free relay, 1:25.27 to 1:26.86.
Senior and USC-commit Mark Jurek of Chandler High School has generated headlines by setting records at this meet each of the past two years, but he switched things up a little bit this year, swapping out the 100 fly for the 200 free, while sticking with his usual 200 IM. He completed an unusual 200 free / 200 IM double, winning the 200 free with a 1:37.36 and the 200 IM in 1:47.86.
The other big star of the past two state championship meets, junior Ryan Hoffer, also switched his lineup by one event. He won his third consecutive championship in the 50 free in a time of 19.95. He then took advantage of Jurek’s absence in the 100 fly to swim that event and break Jurek’s record from last year, 47.47 to Jurek’s 47.80.
In other individual events, Catalina Foothills High School junior Brooks Fail defeated the incumbent champion, Horizon senior Ben Olszewski, 4:26.68 to 4:27.53. Last year, Olszeweski set the state record in this event with a 4:21.48. Josh Vedder, a Desert View junior, won the 100 back in a time of 50.26, and Hamilton High senior Ty Dang swam a 55.97 to win the 100 breast.
Mountain View High School repeated as runners up thanks in part to winning the other two relays. They won the medley relay in 1:34.14 to open the meet, and then held off Horizon High School in the 400 free relay to win 3:06.51 to 3:06.62.
Team Scores:
- Brophy College Prep – 302
- Mountain View – 207.50
- Horizon – 189
- Desert Visa – 182
- Chandler – 170