Arizona Interscholastic Association State Championships – Division 1
- November 3-4, 2023
- Skyline Aquatic Center, Mesa, AZ
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
The Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) State Championships were held this weekend in Mesa, Arizona. Desert Vista High School improved on their 3rd-place finish from last year to take the girls’ title, while Pinnacle High School defeated defending champions Chaparral on the boys’ side. This year marked the final year that Chaparral will compete in DI, as they will transition to DII next year.
Girls’ Recap
Desert Vista topped the team standings with 271 points, becoming the first team to beat defending champions Chaparral High School in ten years.
Top 5 Teams:
- Desert Vista High School – 271
- Horizon High School – 259.5
- Boulder Creek High School – 247
- Chaparral High School – 243.5
- Red Mountain High School – 133
Desert Vista collected three victories over the course of the meet. Senior Clare Luken reclaimed her title in the 200 free (1:51.05), while her teammate Ellie Kayser got her hand on the wall 1st in the 500 (4:57.30). Kayser and Luken teamed up with Victoria Nguyen and Holland Stocker to capture the 200 freestyle relay with a combined time of 1:36.87.
The Girls Swimmer of the Meet Award went to Gilbert junior Lorin Tobler. She opened with a victory in the 100 fly, where she clocked a personal best time of 54.50 to beat defending champion Sophia Jahn by nearly half a second (54.96). Tobler added her second win, and second best time, in the 100 back at 55.56.
Jahn, a senior from Red Mountain and Michigan commit, secured her third straight title in the 50 freestyle. She logged a 23.36 in finals, however, was 23.29 in prelims.
Boulder Creek High School’s Delaney Barbee opened her high school career with an individual state championship title in the 100 freestyle. The freshman stopped the clock at 50.78, putting her within a second of her personal best time from the Western Zone Senior Championships in March (50.17). She was a key member of Boulder Creek’s winning 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay, leading off both with times of 26.89 and 51.13, respectively.
Other Event Winners:
- 200 IM – Baylee Sloan (Casteel), 2:05.73
- 1-meter diving – Ella Minor (Chaparral), 426.60
- 100 breaststroke – Corinne Warriner (Hamilton), 1:02.91
Boys’ Recap
Pinnacle High School, led by first-year head coach Lauren Rodrigues, came out on top by just five points to secure the school’s first team title The meet came down to the 400 freestyle relay, as Pinnacle’s team of Lewis Esterly, Jeremy Rosen, Orion Dietz, and Eduardo Flynn stopped the clock at 3:05.67 to clinch the championship.
Top 5 Teams:
- Pinnacle High School – 309
- Chaparral High School – 304
- Brophy College Prep – 256.5
- Mountain View High School – 175
- Hamilton High School – 154
In addition to the 400 freestyle relay, Pinnacle also got their hand on the wall 1st in the 200 freestyle relay (1:24.71), while Rosen added a victory in the 500. The senior clocked a personal best time of 4:32.69, putting him nearly four seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
Chaparral opened finals with a record-setting performance in the 200 medley relay. The team of Ethan Mindlin, Hudson Schuricht, Ethan Reniewicki, and Seth Crow recorded a time of 1:30.66, taking two tenths off their own state record from prelims.
Hudson Schuricht, who is headed to NC State next fall, took down Matt Anderson’s state record in the 100 breaststroke. He hit a 54.51, which is just a few tenths shy of his own personal best set this past July. Schuricht was also the only athlete to break the 1:50-barrier in the 200 IM with a 1:49.87 in finals.
Chaparral’s other multi-event winner was junior Seth Crow, who dominated the 50 freestyle with a best time of 20.00 in finals. Crow’s swim marks a massive improvement from the 21.27 he swam at this meet a year ago. He completed his sprint sweep with a victory in the 100 free (45.16), improving on his 9th-place finish in the event from last year.
The Swimmer of the Meet Award went to Casteel’s August Vetsch. The Cal commit defended his state title in the 100 fly with a best time of 47.22, while in the 200 free he logged a personal best of 1:38.53 to take the title.
Other Event Winners:
- 100 backstroke – Andrew Simmons (Basha), 49.62
- 1-meter diving – Ezekiel Raybourn (Liberty), 507.20
These comments miss the mark. The story of the meet – from the boys’ side – was Pinnacle High School’s first boys’ state swimming title in its 23 year history. Individual accomplishments – including team or state records – are impressive and worthy of mention of course, but they happen every year. Unprecedented state championships don’t, though. The Pinnacle boys’ 5-point slim margin of victory meant that nearly every event had to go exactly the way it went for this outcome to transpire. If the Pinnacle boys don’t win both the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, if they don’t have 4 top 12 finishers in the 50 free, if they don’t finish first and third in the 500 free, if… Read more »
A true collective team effort! Congratulations Pinnacle!!
Not to mention being north of 100 points down going into the meet.
Imagine Pinnacle not receiving coach of the year and they give it to the good ole boys at Brophy. What a joke. State has lost their minds.
In our state meet, if two swimmers both are two individual events winners, I think they will use NISCA power points to compare and then determine who is the Swimmer of the Meet. Not sure what was actually happening at AIA. By the 2023 Revised Power Point table (boys) of NISCA, both Hudson’s 200 IM and August’s 200 Free are worth about the same points (~142 points), but August’s 100 Fly is apparently valued more than Hudson’s 100 Breast (~156 vs ~151 points), even though Hudson’s 100 breast time is a new state record.
The 100 fly state record is held by Ryan hotter at 46.high which is a much stronger record than 54.61
The Swimmer of the meet & Coach of the meet are voted on by the coaches & the awards are provided by the coaches association.
No doubt Hudson swimming the 100 breast hurt his chances of winning swimmer of the meet. With it being the last individual event. Most if not all votes had been collected by then.
Congrats to Hudson and both they men’s and women’s teams! Too bad politics are in play, you’d think two state records and three event State titles would be worthy of the swimmer of the meet considering no one came close to that achievements! Love you Birds 🔥
Honestly he deserved it. It’s too bad that he misses out because the Chap parents are so insufferable. The good news is that this will pay off in the long run, because he’ll learn how to not behave one day when he has children.
I don’t think kids should have to suffer because of the adults’ behavior, but I also don’t think parents should be exempt from consequences just because “my kids is swimming in the meet.”
(Sidenote: I’m not saying Hudson’s parents were the problem. I don’t know whose parents they were. What I do know is that a lot of Chap parents should have been removed from the meet).
What could they possibly be doing that they should have been removed from the meet?
Stop gearing it towards parents. It’s for the kids. Chap had the biggest cheer section. Insufferable. How about passionate for a team full of great people. Don’t judge until you get to know them.
The Chap parents sat together and cheered enthusiastically for their kids. I didn’t see anything insufferable. Hudson deserved the award -full stop. He didn’t get it because of the past behavior of the Chap coaches. Unlike the other high school coaches, these guys fail to understand that the job of a high school coach is to teach a group of kids who have always swam for themselves to see swimming as a team sport, to build a culture of positivity and to create an environment where kids can have fun and learn that they all have value – not just the superstars. Unfortunately, Hudson being overlooked for this award will just fuel their martyr narrative and they will use this… Read more »
You obviously don’t know those coaches. All these comments assume you know, when you could congratulate and move on. You assume a stigma which is false. Get to know those coaches on a personal level and then you can comment on them. I watched those coaches. They cheer hearts out for those kids. They stand the whole time. They aren’t sitting coaches. They have passion. They were two collegiate swimmers. You need to brushen up and get to know those guys.
“Insufferable” is a little harsh, I am pretty certain you or someone on your team could be accused of the same in the past. Team spirit is what HS sports are all about, and celebrations will escalate! State records don’t come easy, especially when you only get two chances a year to break them.
(Side note: you could have moved!)
Chap parents thinking people don’t like them because they cheer for their swimmers is the most Chap thing I’ve ever heard.
I’m sure it’s not all of y’all. But it’s some of y’all. I could start naming names that I’ve seen with my own eyes, but I won’t. But just a suggestion to those who aren’t the problem to maybe police your own a little better.
If you guys want me to start a groupchat so you can discuss this privately, I’d be happy to. But let’s take a deep breath before it escalates.
Name them we don’t care. We police our own perfectly fine. We already know it is lonely. We had a target on our back everyday and we know it will never leave. We wear it with pride.
We already know it’s pure jealousy because they aren’t a part of the program. I swam at chap and watched club coaches ruin my teammates because of garbage yardage and the consistent negativity towards high school swimming in a club individualized sport that is selfish and vicious. Club coaches care solely on the top end of kids. My teammates gave up on club because they saw the toxicity environment and only wanted to swim for chap because of the consistent team mindset… Read more »
Congrats to Hudson. Unbelievable performances. Those boys will have a record that will stand for quiet some time. Can’t believe Hudson wasn’t swimmer of the meet. It is sad to see how Chaparral is treated when it’s for the kids. It’s sad to see the high school club dynamic in Arizona. Let kids enjoy competing for high school.
Congrats Hudson! Well done!