D-I swim and dive: Brophy Prep, Desert Vista take care of business
November 6, 2016 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365
Brophy Prep, led by four-event gold medalist Jack Blake, continued its roll as Division I team champ Saturday afternoon and Desert Vista swooped in and won a tight girls battle for team honors at Skyline High's Aquatic Center.
Brophy made it 29 consecutive team titles in a row and 39 overall. The Broncos tallied 394 points, nearly doubling runner-up Mesa Mountain View (203.5). Boulder Creek was third (196) and Desert Vista fourth at 178. The last 11 titles have been under the guidance of coach Pat O'Neill.
The outstanding individual of the meet was Blake. The senior racked up golds in the 50 free, 100 free and anchored the 200 free relay and 400 free relay teams to victory. He repeated as 100 free champ. Brophy won all the relays in dominating fashion.
Junior AJ Frakes earned golds on all three relays. He anchored the 200 medley relay and led off the 200 and 400 and was runner-up to Blake in the 100 free. Sophmore Parker Hughes and junior Michael Niezgodzki were on two winning relay teams. Hughes was part of the 200 and 400 free relay teams and Niezgodzki part of the 200 medley and 400 free teams.
It was a good day as well for three other seniors in swim events. Pinnacle's Aaron Apel claimed golds in the 200 free and 500 free. Horizon's Cameron Heidenreich took first in the 100 breast and 200 IM. And for the third year in a row Desert Vista's Joshua Vedder ruled the 100 back.
Also winning events were Chandler junior Michael Klauss (100 fly) and Mesa High diver David Mickelson.
Desert Vista's girls came away with only one individual title, but it worked out fine for the Thunder overall. They totaled 274 points to claim the top trophy. They were the third Desert Vista squad to win a state title on Saturday. Boys and girls cross country won in the morning. Chandler High (245) was second, Hamilton (206) third and Xavier Prep (198) fourth.
Underclassmen,-- five juniors and one sophomore, ruled the gold-medal winners for the girls with two winning a pair of events. Boulder Creek's Claire Grover won the 50 free and 100 breast. Xavier's Kaitlyn McCoy prevailed in the 100 back and 200 IM. Desert Vista's Shae Nicolaisen won the 200 free and was anchor of the winning 200 free relay squad. Red Mountain's Olivia Grossklaus (100 fly) and Hamilton's McKenzee Gordon (500 free) and Highland sophomore Kyla Yetter (100 free) were winners. Gordon also earned gold as part of her team's 400 free relay.
Diving saw a repeat winner as Skyline;s Victoria Knapp, who won the D-II title in 2015, was tops in D-I this year.