AIA Division III Championships
- November 8-9, 2024
- Phoenix Country Day School — Paradise Valley, AZ
- 25 Yards (SCY)
- Girls’ Full Results
- Boys’ Full Results
Girls’ Meet
Last year’s champions, Arizona College Prep, reclassified as a Division I school this year, leaving the door open for new programs to be crowned on both the girls’ and boys’ sides. The Phoenix Country Day School girls grabbed the opportunity, claiming the 2024 Division III title with 398 points to Notre Dame Prep’s 362 points.
Lelia Symington factored heavily in Phoenix Country Day’s win, earning gold in two individual events and as part of two relays for the program. She earned two of her wins in the first two events of the day, first anchoring Phoenix Country Day’s 200 medley relay. Olivia Singer (28.92), Claudia Primus (31.23), Julia Lotz (27.73), and Symington (24.78) combined to win the relay in 1:52.16, touching first by over two seconds.
Symington was back up in the 200 free, the next event. The senior and UC Santa Barbara commit took the win with a new lifetime best of 1:52.69. Later, she made it a sweep of the mid-distance events, winning the 500 free in 4:57.68, another lifetime best. She continued to show off her freestyle range by splitting 52.40 on Phoenix Country Day’s winning relay to end the meet with another relay win.
Along with Symington, Liliana Hineman and Aubrielle Stevens made impressions of the meet, each winning two events. Hineman, a sophomore, earned her wins in the 200 IM and 100 backstroke. Her winning times of 2:05.52 in the 200 IM and 57.29 in the 100 backstroke were both lifetime bests, and she added another leading off her school’s 400 freestyle relay in 54.16.
The junior Stevens took care of the sprints, claiming the 50 freestyle in 23.41 and the 100 freestyle in 51.66, both personal bests. Her 100 freestyle drop was particularly impressive, as it marked a 1.97-second drop from her previous best, swum in March 2023.
Phoenix Country Day won the opening and closing relays, but couldn’t make it a sweep as they finished 11th in the 200 freestyle relay. Chandler Prep won there, as Ingrid Hansen, Mikayla Dunmar, Amelia Lockery, and Julia Thomas won by over four seconds (1:40.03).
Top 5 Girls Team Scores:
- Phoenix Country Day School — 398
- Notre Dame Prep High School — 362
- Chandler Prep High School — 296.5
- Pusch Ridge Christian Academy — 231
- Ala-Gilbert North High School — 200
Boys’ Meet
Gilbert Classical Academy did not win any events but its depth overwhelmed the event wins that schools like Notre Dame, Phoenix Country Day, and Paradise Honors racked up and they claimed the 2024 Boys’ Division III AIA State Championship.
Not only is it their first championship in program history, but coach Jordan Brough told AZPreps365 that it is the first state championship for the school in any sport. Gilbert Classic beat Phoenix Country Day School, which was looking for a sixth title, by just 16 points.
The highest finish for Gilbert Classic came in the 200 freestyle relay, where Zadok Hutchins (22.76), Max Fioresi (23.44), Aiden Hall (23.98), and Terry Li (22.22) finished third in 1:32.40. Li also took fourth in the 100 breaststroke (59.98) as did Marshall Gabriel on the 1-meter board. Li also led off the fourth-place 200 medley relay, teaming with Charley Baleme (28.65), Aidan Feirstein (25.09), and Hutchins (22.61) for a final time of 1:42.74.
Paradise Honors earned the most wins on the day as Austin Hargreaves doubled up in the 50/100 freestyle, swimming lifetime bests of 20.86 and 45.85 to claim gold. The program got another win in the 200 freestyle relay as Elijah Harada (22.22), Noah Delatorre (23.85), Sean Holstein (22.10), and Hargreaves (20.87) were the only quartet to break 1:30, touching in 1:29.04.
Trivium Prep, Phoenix County Day, and Notre Dame were the other schools with multiple wins on the day. Trivium got its wins from junior Al Alexanderovich, who won both the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke. He opened his meet by swimming a lifetime best 1:53.03 in the 200 IM—it was his second PB in the event of the meet and is a huge drop from his previous best of 1:58.65 from March. He and Hargreaves were the two swimmers who won multiple individual events on the day.
Top 5 Boys Team Scores:
- Gilbert Classical Academy High — 334
- Phoenix Country Day School — 318
- Notre Dame Prep High School — 296
- Paradise Honors High School — 294
- Trivium Prep High School — 184
