Top-Tier AZ Sprinter Van Hofwegen Verbally Commits to San Jose State

Angel van Hofwegen from Phoenix Christian High School and the Scottsdale Aquatic Club has verbally committed to San Jose State University.

At last weekend’s Arizona Division II (small schools) High School State Championship meet, van Hofwegen was a lifetime best of 23.41 in the prelims of the 50 yard free. That gave her the top seed, and though she dropped to a 24.0 in finals for 2nd-place, she did have the fastest time of the day.

She also placed 5th at that meet in the 100 yard fly – a race in which her best time, from her freshman year of high school, is a 56.51.

Also as a freshman, she was a 52.6 in the 100 yard free, though without any Phoenix Christian relays at Arizona’s state meet, her opportunity to swim that 100 yard free on a full taper has been more limited than what most swimmers see.

Van Hofwegen trains at the Scottsdale Aquatic Club that for the last year has been one of the hotter junior-level sprint programs in the country, especially with the likes of swimmers like Ryan Hoffer, who this weekend broke a National Age Group Record and won a state title in the 50 free.

The Spartans of San Jose State have sprinters as a big focus this season: their top 5 sprinters from last season will all be graduated by the time van Hofwegen gets there, and they were a very good top 5: the Spartans graduated two of the three best sprinters in school history Marisa Dewames and Kiley Foster, and crushed the school records in relays in the past couple of seasons.

They will be pulling for van Hofwegen to be a part of that next generation as the Spartans look to run their conference championship streak to three years in a row – they won the last two titles in the WAC, but now are contending for the Mountain West title, where the level of competition increases considerably against the likes of Boise State, Fresno State, UNLV, Hawaii, Wyoming, and San Diego State.