By Roan Enright ’13
THE ROUNDUP

Brophy remains the giant in Arizona high school swimming after winning their 24th title in a row Saturday, Nov. 5 at the Kino Aquatic Center in Mesa.

Brophy ended up with a total of 412 points, almost doubling the second place team Mountain View who ended with 244 in total points.

“We got such a strong team. Our strength is that we brought 19 kids to state and most other schools score only three kids for state,” said swim coach Mr. Pat O’Neill

“The kids we have flat out work harder and put in more time in the pool more than any other group of kids in the state,” O’Neill  said.    

The swimmer of the year, senior Chris Webb ’12, fetched gold in the 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle, 500 freestyle relay and took second in the 200 freestyle relay to help ensure Brophy’s victory at the meet.

Junior Lukas Williams ’13 placed second behind Webb, in both of Webb’s individual races and the pack competed together in the 500 freestyle relay.

Other individual winners included Mike Nelson ’12, who took gold in the 100 breast stroke almost beating the state record by four tenths of a second.

Juniors Gabe Espinosa ’13 and Tucker Wells ’13 took home medals as well.

Lead diver Gus Quinif ’12 place 11th in state, Cormac Cardwell ’12 and Connor Lawston ’14 also placed in the top 30.

Mr.O’Neill said that the season had its ups and downs, but Brophy Swimming and Diving has a bright upcoming future in head of them.

“Before state some of the younger guys had to come up and overcome.” O’Neill said regarding the meets when the junior and seniors couldn’t participate.

“(Coach O’Neill) definitely helped us get past these events and made the necessary adjustments to lead us toward victory,” said Gabe Espinosa ’13

“Next season is definitely going to be challenging because of the large and talented senior class that we are losing this year. But it provides a lot of opportunity for the younger swimmers to step up and help win Brophy its twenty-fifth state championship in a row,” Espinosa added.