Brooks Fail Clocks Season Best 1:58.15 200 Fly at AZ Senior Championships

AZ 2022 Senior Long Course Championship

• June 30-July 3, 2022
• Chandler High School, Chandler, AZ
• LCM (50m)
• Results

TEAM SCORES (Top 5)

Combined

1. Gold Medal Swim Club – 1906
2. Phoenix Swim Club – 1096
3. Swim Neptune – 1035.5
4. Scottsdale Aquatic Club – 922
5. Flying Fish Arizona Swim Team – 662.5

Men

1. Gold Medal Swim Club – 986
2. Swim Neptune – 631.5
3. Scottsdale – 428
4. Phoenix Swim Club – 376
5. Flying Fish Arizona Swim Team – 239.5

Women

1. Gold Medal Swim Club – 858
2. Phoenix Swim Club – 658
3. Scottsdale Aquatic Club – 494
4. Flying Fish Arizona Swim Team – 377
5. Swim Neptune – 350

The 2022 Arizona Senior LCM Championships were held over the 4th of July weekend in Chandler, seeing the recently bolstered Gold Medal Swim Club dominate the meet. In the fall of 2021, it was announced that nearby Rio Salado Swim Club, which was a 2020 Bronze Medal Club, would be merging with GMSC while shifting their program into a developmentally focused program. The move appears to have paid dividends, as GMSC nearly doubled runner-up Phoenix Swim Club in combined team scoring, handily winning the men’s and women’s titles as well.

In total, GMSC had 48 swimmers score individually, and received massive windfalls of points of their relays. Leading the way for the team individually was 18-year-old Jack Luken, who was an ‘A’ finalist in 6 events, winning the men’s 1500 free and taking 2nd in both the 400 free and 800 free as well. Luken’s winning time in the 1500 was 15:57.79, which actually came in just off his personal best of 15:53.55. Luken is set to begin his collegiate career at Michigan next month.

Swim Neptune 17-year-old and 2023 Cal recruit Keaton Jones was one of the top performers at the meet, winning the men’s 200 free, 100 back, and 200 back, taking 2nd in the 200 fly, and 3rd in the 100 free and 100 fly. His 100 free was arguably his best race of the meet. He took 3rd on the final night with a 50.57. That swim would have been a personal best for Jones, however, he had led off the 400 free relay in 50.47 earlier in the meet. The 50.47 marked a massive improvement from his 52.04 personal best entering the meet. Additionally, he picked up a U.S. Nationals cut with the relay lead-off.

Jones also swam a personal best in the 100 back, winning the race handily in 56.10. That chipped 0.11 seconds off his personal best. In the 100 fly, Jones once again swam a new best time, taking 3rd in 55.31.

Jones was just off his personal best in the 200 back, roaring to victory in 2:02.27. Similarly, he clocked a 1:51.41 to win the 200 free, just off his personal best there as well. He swam a 2:05.49 to take 2nd in the 200 fly.

It was Arizona’s Brooks Fail who won the men’s 200 fly, blowing the field away with a 1:58.15. That marks Fail’s fastest time of the year in the event, although it’s well off his personal best of 1:56.18, which he swam last summer. Fail also won the men’s 800 free in 8:12.63, 400 free in 3:53.34, and 200 IM in 2:03.78.

Flying Fish Arizona Swim Team’s Tyler Driscoll was a force in the women’s sprint events. Driscoll first took the women’s in a new personal best of 1:02.26, touching the wall first by nearly a second. She would then go on to win the women’s 50 free as well, clocking another lifetime best of 26.66. She just narrowly touched out unattached Scottsdale Aquatic Club 16-year-old Caelle Armijo (26.74) for the win.

Phoenix Swim Club’s Chloe Isleta, 24, was a huge scorer in the women’s meet, winning the women’s 200 free and 100 back. In the 200 free, Isleta swam a 2:05.39, touching first by half a second. In the 100 back, Isleta dominated the field, tearing to a 1:03.56.