STATE SWIM
32 individuals (and 16 of 24 relays) qualify, will be held Saturday.
For Gila Ridge, coach Greg Brown has his expectations set particularly high for three individuals — junior Sydney Tunell (No. 3 in 100 back, No. 6 in 50 free) on the girls side, and sophomore Devon Wheeler (No. 8 in 200 free, No. 10 in 500 free) and junior Talen Osborn (No. 11 in 100 free, No. 16 in 50 free) on the boys side.
Gila Ridge has never produced a top-four individual finisher for boys and only one for girls (Emily Reh, 2nd in 5A-II 50 free in 2008).
Brown thinks definitely Tunell and also possibly Wheeler could do that.
“Sydney has a chance in
both,” Brown said. “If you look at the 100 back rankings, we’re talking tenths of a second that separate these girls. And the 50 free is just wide open. Somebody could have a great swim and somebody an average swim.”
There is a clear favorite in the 100 back (Chaparral’s Greer Pattison at 56.80), and McClintock’s Sophie Velitchkov is seeded second at 58.37. Then less than four-tenths of a second separate the next four swimmers, with the third-seeded Tunell topping that group at 58.98. In the 50 free, her time (24.82) ranks just .22 out of the top-four and .36 out of the top two.
Tunell set both of her season/personal-best times at this past weekend’s Colorado River Championships.
“The thing about Sydney
is we’ve got her on this track to get faster every week,” Brown said. “Some girls at state, their fastest meet was in September. That’s not the case for Sydney. It’s here’s a faster time, here’s a faster time, here’s a faster time, and this week I’m expecting her fastest.”
This will mark Tunell’s third state appearance, and she has finished between eighth and 13th in all four of her previous individual state races.
On the boys side, Gila Ridge’s highest individual finisher a year ago was since-graduated Kempton Osborn, who took 10th and 13th in his two individual events. Wheeler (16th in the 500 free) was the only other Hawk to reach the second day of competition.
“This is the first year I really want to see kids move up and get into that top 16,” Brown said. “We’ve got a lot of kids in the 20s. With a couple of bad swims by other kids and personal-bests by our kids, I could see several of our kids swimming day two.”
Wheeler and Osborn, of course, are projected to reach day two in both of their events based off their seeds, as is junior Ira Evans in the 200 IM (No. 14; also No. 24 in 100 breast).
Other two-event qualifiers for the Hawks are: junior Lane Mellon (No. 20 in 100 breast, No. 24 in 100 free), junior Sean Lines (No. 23 in 100 breast, No. 24 in 200 IM) and sophomore Mikael Lamayo (No. 22 in 100 free, No. 26 in 200 IM).
Junior Austin Cannon is seeded 22nd in the 100 back for the Hawks boys, while for the girls sophomore Zoe Carll is 26th in the 100 breast and freshman Taylor Poole is 27th in the one-meter dive.
Poole qualifying for state is particularly exciting for the Hawks because this is their first year with a diving program.
“Taylor came up to me at open house randomly and was like, ‘I hear you have diving,’ and I told her to sign up, and she just bought in like crazy,” Brown said. “She’s doing so well.”
Relay-wise, Gila Ridge’s boys have a good chance for high finishes in the 200 medley (No. 9) and the 400 free (also No. 9). They’re No. 18 in the 200 free. The Hawks girls are No. 15 in the 200 medley, No. 19 in the 400 free and No. 21 in the 200 free.
Cibola qualified at the Division I level in two boys relays: the 200 free (No. 22) and the 200 medley (No. 24).