Girls Meet
Notre Dame kicked off its championship in dramatic fashion, winning the 200 medley relay over Sabino High School 1:51.20 to 1:51.33, thanks to sophomore Alexa Markl’s anchor leg of 23.80.
Markl jumped back into the pool for the next event, and very nearly made it two wins in a row for Notre Dame, but Verrado freshman Destiny Kling just beat Markl 1:53.91 to 1:53.95.
Notre Dame would get the next event, however, as freshman Isabella Fratesti won the 200 IM in 2:07.67.
Olivia McNally, a sophomore at Green Fields High School, won the 50 free in 24.65, and would go on to sweep the sprint freestyles with a 53.47 in the 100 free.
A tie in the 100 butterfly was sandwiched between McNally’s wins. Sabino senior Taylor Nations and Veritas Prep junior Katie Higgins both touched the wall in 55.39
Nicole Matheson, a Sunrise Mountain junior, prevented Kling from getting a second victory with a win in the 500 free. Mathewson swam a 5:06.81 to Kling’s 5:08.09.
Notre Dame got back to winning in the 200 free relay with a 1:39.89, to finish ahead of Verrando (1:40.34).
Nations won the 100 back outright (56.70), and Skyline senior Eleonora Dall’Olio ended the individual events with a victory in the 100 breast (1:05.78).
Sabino High School finished off the meet with a 3:39.72 in the 400 free relay. Salpointe’s second place finish in this final relay helped secure an overall second place for them in the standing standings; Verrado only finished one point behind Salpointe after its 400 free relay team DQ’d in preliminaries.
Team Scores
- Notre Dame Prep – 215
- Salpointe Catholic – 181
- Verrado – 180
- Sabino – 168.50
- Aqua Fria – 120
Boys Meet
Salpointe Catholic moved up from its fourth-place finish last year to win the state championship, while Notre Dame Prep narrowly took second place over Williams Field.
Salpointe got its only win of the meet from senior Steven Rothe, who defeated defeated defending champion Zabric Kline of Bourgade Catholic 51.39 to 51.43 in the 100 fly.
Gilbert Classical Academy senior Austin Baker defended both of his individual championships from last season in a pair of relatively narrow victories over Phoenix County Day School senior Jacob Bain. In the 50 free, Baker swam a 21.22 to Bain’s 21.39. The 100 free was even closer, as Baker and Bain split the race similarly. Baker went out in 22.79 and home in 24.28 to touch in 47.07, while Bain went 22.83/24.27 for a 47.10.
Sophomore Archie Spindler of Seton Catholic also doubled, winning the 200 free (1:45.06) and the 500 free (4:44.52).
Other individual event winners included Cholla High junior Braden Christensen in the 20o IM (1:59.13), Queen Creek’s Tyler Reznicek in the 100 back (53.28), and Notre Dame senior Braxton Bilbrey in the 100 breast (57.91).
The Notre Dame boys won two relays. They began the meet with a comfortable win in the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:36.93, over two seconds faster than the second-place Queen Creek team, then they went on to win the 200 free relay in 1:26.99. Williams Field held off Salpointe in the 400 free relay, 3:15.67 to 3:15.95, to conclude the meet.
Team Scores
- Salpointe – 236
- Notre Dame – 185
- William Fields – 184
- Phoenix County Day – 142
- Queen Creek – 137