The 27th annual Brophy/Xavier Invitational took place at Brophy Prep in Phoenix, Arizona yesterday, where 24 area high schools took to the Brophy Prepratory School pool.
USA National teamer Ryan Hoffer and Canadian 100m and 200m freestyle World Junior Champion Taylor Ruck, both from Scottsdale Chaparral, highlighted the meet. Hoffer entered the meet as the top seed in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke races, while Ruck was listed as the one to beat in the girls’ 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke.
Ruck was true to world-junior-champion-form, taking the 200y freestyle win almost a full 4 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Ruck’s time of 1:52.56 was off of her entry time of 1:50.02, but was enough to top runner-up finisher, Isabel Whited from Pinnacle High School, who touched in 1:56.41, and Willow Canyon’s Emily Pickett who claimed 3rd place just .10 of a second behind in 1:56.51.
The 100y backstroke also proved to be Ruck’s race to lose, as she threw down a swift 57.02 for the top prize. The next closest finisher was Corona Del Sol’s Karilyn Quon, who clocked the only other sub-minute time of the day, a 59.95 for 2nd place.
For Ruck’s relay presence, she helped push her Chaparral High School 200y freestyle relay team to victory, anchoring in a split of 24.22, the squad’s 2nd-fastest leg behind Gabriella Fagan‘s 24.12. Their final relay time was a 1st-place finishing 1:39.54.
The Canadian phenom also anchored Chaparrel’s 400y freestyle relay, which claimed the top prize in a collective time of 3:37.05. Within that event, Ruck split 54.68, behind Emma Broome‘s lead-off of 54.13, Kelly Huffer‘s second leg split of 55.53 and Gabriella Fagan‘s 52.71 in the 3rd position.
Ryan Hoffer kicked off his events with a super quick 100y butterfly time of 48.65. Hoffer’s winning time marks his 5th-fastest time in the event, and is his swiftest of 2015. For perspective, Hoffer’s personal best 100y fly time is the 46.42 he registered at last year’s Winter Junior National Championships for that meet’s record.
Next on Hoffer’s agenda was as lead-off on Chaparral’s 200y freestyle relay where he once again torched the pool. Hoffer logged a lead-off split of 20.37, the fastest of the field, although his squad’s time of 1:30.41 settled for 3rd place overall in the race. Brophy won the event in a time of 1:27.10, with anchor Jack Blake‘s split of 20.78 being the only other sub-21 clocking of the top 3 teams.
Hoffer showed complete dominance in the men’s 100y backstroke, where his winning time of 49.53 topped the field by over 4 seconds. At the 2015 Arizona Phoenix Winter Invite, Hoffer registered a mark of 49.94, so the Brophy swim marks his speediest of 2015. He won the event at the 2014 Winter Junior Nationals in a time of 47.19.
Of note is blakes 50 free 20.89 and the fact he and hoffer wore regular speedos
Isabel Whited from Pinnacle High School, who touched in 1:56.41, and Willow Canyon’s Emily Pickett who claimed 3rd place just .10 of a second behind in 1:46.51. TYPO!!!!! 1:56.51 not 1:46.51 ?
Nice catch; corrected 🙂 – Retta