Arizona Interscholastic Association State Championships – Division III
- November 3-4, 2023
- PCDS Dady Aquatic Center, Phoenix, AZ
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
- Division I Recap
- Division II Recap
The Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) State Championships are in the books. Arizona College Prep High School topped the team standings on both sides of the meet for the 2nd year in a row, with the girls scoring 362 points and the boys tallying 308.5 points.
Girls’ Recap
Arizona College Prep decisively defended their Division III title with 362 points, beating runner-up Phoenix Country Day School by a 100-point margin.
Top 5 Teams:
- Arizona College Prep High School – 362
- Phoenix Country Day School – 262.5
- American Leadership Academy – 170
- Paradise Honors High School – 150
- Chandler Prep High School – 143
Leading the way for Arizona College Prep was Nicole Byrnes Cortinas. The junior defended her individual titles in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke, hitting times of 2:08.72 and 1:05.01, respectively. She also contributed to two relay victories, swimming breaststroke on the winning 200 medley relay (1:49.94) and anchoring the 200 freestyle relay (1:39.49).
Shadow Mountain senior Danielle Gleason was also a double-event winner, earning victories in the same events that she did a year ago. The Mizzou recruit notched a personal best time of 1:49.61 to take 1st in the 200 freestyle, then logged a 4:51.89 to capture the 500. Notably, Gleason’s times would have won across all three AIA divisions this year.
Ariel Beltran, a senior from the American Leadership Academy, collected titles in the 100 fly and 100 backstroke. The Arizona State commit stopped the clock at 56.33 in the 100 fly, putting her within a few tenths of her personal best set in October. In the 100 backstroke, she logged a 56.87 to establish a new personal best.
Rounding out the multi-event winners was Eastmark High School senior Peyton Wunderlich, who completed a sweep of the sprint freestyle races. Wunderlich dropped half a second to win the 50 in 24.08, while in the 100 she posted a personal best time of 53.11.
Other Event Winners:
- Simone Sabeeh (PCDS) won 1-meter diving by four points, scoring a 390.90 in finals.
- Phoenix Country Day School captured the 400 freestyle relay in 3:38.91 with Olivia Singer posting a 53.88 on the anchor.
Boys’ Recap
After narrowly defeating Phoenix Country Day last fall, the Arizona College Prep boys dominated this year’s meet to also win by over 100 points.
Top 5 Team Scores:
- Arizona College Prep High School – 308.5
- Phoenix Country Day High School – 205
- Salpointe Catholic High School – 183
- Gilbert Classical Academy – 156
- Tanque Verde High School – 115
Arizona College Prep’s victory was fueled largely by their depth, as they only won one event. The quartet of Langston Lindsey, Tiago Wakefield, Jeremiah Boyer, and Elijah Peng delivered the victory in the 200 freestyle relay, where they clocked a 1:29.00 to win the event by four seconds.
Salpointe Catholic senior Keegan Kelly defended his individual titles in the 50 free and 200 free. He stopped the clock at 1:38.61 in the 200, putting him just a few tenths shy of his personal best from March. In the 50, he got his hand on the wall at 21.01, only a hundredth off his best time.
Tanner Sheffert, a junior from Estrella Foothills, also won both of his individual races. Sheffert dropped nearly a second en route to winning the 200 IM, then shaved a few tenths off his best in the 500 to win in 4:40.30.
Pusch Ridge Christian Academy’s Alexander Edquid had a fantastic meet with two victories as well. He knocked a second off his best time in the 100 fly (50.33) to successfully defend his title, then posted a 57.21 to take over a second off his personal best in the 100 breast (57.21).
Other Event Winners:
- Phoenix Country Day School won the opening 200 medley relay by just 0.05, with Oliver Wilmink splitting a 21.62 on the end to stop the clock at 1:39.34.
- Ryan Stamer (PUSC) logged a 46.22 to win the 100 free, marking a new personal best by almost a tenth.
- Nicholas Cusson (TVHS) swam a season best time of 52.68 to take the 100 back, putting him within half a second of his own personal best.
- Phoenix Country Day School closed with a victory in the 400 freestyle relay (3:14.61). The fastest split of the team belonged to Cabot Teskey, who was a 47.28 on the end.
