State Record Falls As Xavier College Prep Girls, Brophy College Boys Win AIA DI State Titles

AIA Arizona Division I State Championship

• Nov. 6 – 9, 2024
• Skyline Aquatic Center — Mesa, AZ
• 25 Yards (SCY)
• Girls’ Full Results
• Boys’ Full Results

Girls’ Meet

The Xavier College Prep girls’ capped their undefeated season by winning their first state championship in eight years. They racked up 398 points, winning by 31 points over Arizona College Prep, which took second in its first year as a Division I program.

The swim of the meet, though, came from Boulder Creek sophomore Delaney Barbee, who broke the 50 freestyle high school state record twice. Barbee owns a lifetime best of 22.60, well under Claire Grover’s 22.87 from 2017 which stood as the record heading into the meet. She first took down the record in prelims with a 22.76, which she lowered to 22.74 in the finals.

Barbee also won the 100 freestyle (50.43), anchored Boulder’s winning 200 freestyle relay in 22.50, and split a 24.10 50 fly on the 200 medley relay.

Adelyn Burns was the highlight for the title-winning Xavier team. She claimed two state titles as a freshman, both in lifetime bests, hitting 2:03.13 in the 200 IM and 1:02.85 in the 100 breaststroke. She also swam on two Xavier relays. In the opening 200 medley relay, Genevieve George (26.57), Burns (28.97), Carter Cook (26.02), and Audrey McEwen (24.07) set the tone for the meet, winning in 1:45.63.

The Xavier girls placed highly in all three relays, taking third in the 400 free relay (3:34.66) and fourth in the 200 free relay (1:39.46). George, a senior, also made it onto the podium in two events, taking second in the 100 fly and 100 butterfly. In total, Xavier had 12 athletes score in individual events to secure their title.

Desert Vista’s Ellie Kayser and Gilbert’s Lorin Tober were double-event winners along with Barbee and Burns. Kayser, a Wisconsin commit, swept the mid-distance freestyles. She popped a lifetime best 1:52.18 to win the 200 freestyle, coming from behind to catch Sydney Ho with a 27.73 closing 50. She followed up with a win in the 500 free, separating herself from the field with a 4:58.35. Kayser was the only swimmer sub-5:00 in the final.

Tobler, a senior verbally committed to Ohio State for fall 2025, won the 100 fly and 100 back. She swam a lifetime best 54.11 in the 100 fly, winning by over a second. Then, she clocked 55.56 to win the 100 backstroke.

Chaparral High School rounded out the overall podium, finishing third behind Xavier and Arizona College Prep with 309.5 points.

Top 5 Girls’ Teams:

1. Xavier College Prep — 398
2. Arizona College Prep — 367
3. Chaparral High School — 309.5
4. Desert Vista High School — 303
5. Mountain View High School — 211

Boys’ Meet

The Brophy boys won their 43rd state championship title and their first since 2019, earning 417.5 points to outpace the second-place Pinnacle High School by 93.5 points. Brophy got two individual event wins; junior Mark Heffern won the 200 IM, posting his second PB of the meet in the event to win in 1:50.54. Heffern dropped 4.38 seconds in the event throughout the meet—he arrived at the championships with a lifetime best of 1:54.92.

Patrick Dunn earned the program’s other event win, taking the 500 freestyle with a lifetime best of 4:33.67. The sophomore won the event by less than a second over Pinnacle’s Hudson Martz (4:34.39).

The Broncos had three top-four relay finishes and used their depth scorers in the ‘A’ and ‘B’ finals to rack up such a huge lead over their competitors, some of which had more event wins than they did.

For example, Chaparral won five events, led by Seth Crow and Ethan Reniewicki. Crow swept the sprint freestyles, swimming PBs in prelims and finals for both events. After breaking 20 seconds for the first time in prelims (19.90), Crow clocked 19.63 to win gold in the 50, storming to the win by 1.01 seconds. He was similarly dominant in the 100 free, swimming 44.15 and winning by 2.52 seconds after hitting 44.71 in prelims for his first sub-45 swim.

Reniewicki, another Ohio State commit, won a close race with Grant Kellis in the 200 freestyle to get Chaparral’s first event win. After leading the race at the halfway points, Reniewicki held off a back-half charge from Kellis to win by nine-hundredths, 1:38.39 to 1:38.48. He also won the 100 fly, touching for the win in 48.55 ahead of Arizona College Prep’s Langston Lindsey.

The two combined forces with Caden Oprandy and Brady Kormendy to win the 200 freestyle relay. Reniewicki (20.58), Oprandy (20.93), Kormendy (22.92), and Crow (19.77) pulled ahead from Pinnacle High School early in the race, clocking 1:24.20 to win.

Lindsey, a sophomore, got his win in the 100 backstroke. He nearly broke the 50-second barrier, earning his win in a lifetime best 50.01. He dropped .73 seconds from his best before the meet (50.74).

Fans were treated to another close race in the 100 breaststroke, as Grayson Pudleiner held off Oprandy’s late push, swimming 56.53 to win by six-hundredths.

Millenium’s Ewan Cain, Joel Arnold, Marcos Bravo, and Cole Faut won the opening 200 medley relay (1:35.35). Arizona College Prep took the 400 free relay to close the meet with Cohen Gunsalus, Elijah Peng, Jeremiah Boyer, and Lindsey.

Top 5 Boys’ Teams:

1. Brophy College Prep — 417.5
2. Pinnacle High School — 324
3. Millennium High School — 297
4. Mountain View High School — 272
5. Chaparral High Schoool — 245