SPORTS & RECREATION
SCOTTSDALE PROGRESS | WWW.SCOTTSDALE.ORG | NOVEMBER 14, 2021
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Chaparral, Desert Mountain shine at state swim �inals BY EMERIL GORDON Progress Contributing Writer
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ith one event left in the state championship swim meet, Chaparral looked primed to sweep both the boys and girls state championship title. However, a lastminute push by the Desert Vista boys during the 400 freestyle relay left the Firebirds boys settling for second. The separation came down to just two points. Desert Vista totaled 313 points while Chaparral totaled 311 points. Coming into the meet it was Chaparral that started winning the first event, the 200-medley relay in a time of 1:34.39. However, Desert Vista wasn’t far behind in this event coming second by one hundredth of a second in 1:34.40. “I was just like I have to do it for the boys,” said Joel Maldonado, the anchor of the relay for Chaparral. He also expressed that initially he wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to pull it off against Desert Vista’s Caleb Stanley. This event was important for a couple of reasons: It set the tone for the rest of what to expect in the meet and relays are worth double points so they(relays) can massively boost a team’s overall score. Though Chaparral came out on top in the first event and took home the double points, Desert Vista made a statement in the opening race and showed that it was indeed a contender for the championship title. Jack Luken, Tres Mungia, and Stanley played a huge role in keeping close enough to Chaparral during the meet with several top finishes in individual events. Luken shined in the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle winning both in commanding times 1:38.68 and 4:28.23.
mances of the meet for Chaparral was Lauren Richards third place 500 freestyle in a time of 5:03.85. Though that may not seem like the greatest time, she came only behind Hamilton’s standout distance swimmer Audrey Pickles, who was the only girl to go under �ive minutes in 4:58.48 and three tenths behind Horizon’s Maryjane Neilson in 5:03.55. Desert Mountain’s girls and boys had an early bump in points thanks to first place finishes in the 200 medley, the first race of the Division II boys and girls meets. Both squads Chaparral’s girls’ swim program captured its fourth straight state championship last weekend at went on to have several the state meet while the boys placed second overall, just two points behind champion Desert top five finishes in a vaVista. (Courtesy Russell Krzyzanowski) riety of events, including a first-place finish from Mugia brought home top finishes gether, they could do it. “That’s what powered us over the Matthew Iverson in the boys’ 500 for the team in the 100 butterfly and freestyle. breaststroke events. In the 100 butter- finish line,” Luken said. The Desert Mountain girls went on In the girl’s competition, Chaparral fly he finished second behind Sunnyslope’s Colby Raffel in a still impressive won by a commanding margin over to edge Campo Verde by 30 points for 49.32 seconds. He was the top finisher Red Mountain, totaling 357.5 points the state title. The boys finished ahead in the 100 breasts as the only athlete while the Mountain Lions totaled 240 of runner-up Catalina Foothills by nearly 50 points. to go sub 57 in the final finishing in points. The state title for Chaparral’s girls Two relay wins plus finishing top 56.29 seconds. Stanley won the 50 freestyle for Desert Vista in a time of four in almost every event they en- was the fourth straight for the protered is what led Chaparral to the gram. The boys, who placed first over20.88 seconds. Along with those performances, it overwhelming score total. A key to all last year, beat out Brophy this year was the clutch 400 freestyle relay that how Chaparral did the rest of the meet for second place. The Broncos were unall three of them were on that got Des- was the fact that they came in with a able to compete last season due to COchampionship team mindset and fur- VID-19. Before that, they had won the ert Vista to the state championship. title every year dating back to 1987. “It was a team effort. I am just glad to ther set the tone in the first relay. Chaparral swim coach Russell Krzyz“I was put as a backstroker and I’m be a part of such an amazing program,” Stanley said. “All of us trained so hard usually a breaststroker and I was told anowski was proud of the way his team a couple times I would have to throw competed at a high level yet again. and we are so happy to see it pay off.” “I am glad we won, and we get to celThe boys knew coming in that win- down a fast time for us to win,” said ning was by no stretch of their imagi- Blakely Schuricht, the leadoff leg of ebrate,” he said of the girls. “But next season will be here before we know it nation going to be an easy task, but the 200-medley relay. One of the best individual perfor- and we must keep growing.” they also knew that if they stuck to-
