By Hannah Chadwick

“It was the craziest high school season I have ever witnessed,” head coach Jenn Stephens explains. This year’s swim team started out with some roadblocks due to Covid-19 measures, however due to the swimmers’ hard work they finished with tons of success! Every athlete improved this season for a total of 100 personal records and multiple state qualifications, ending the season with a splash!

The team as a whole had many individuals and relays make state this year and even more improve on their events this season. Coach Jenn explains how she is very proud of the diligent work the team put in this year, even with the hardships that Covid-19 brought. She is also especially proud of how well the team did while competing against larger schools. She explains how Tempe Prep competes against 70 other schools, some bigger and some smaller, and roughly 2 percent of the athletes make state, so to see how well the team did this year is truly incredible.

She says, “Getting seeded into the state meet is always the goal, getting to swim at the state meet is priceless! TPA is proud! Through diligent preparation, peer support and extremely hard work we are able to compete against schools twice our size.”

Sophomore Amanda Maurer was one of the individuals who made state this year. She explains how she made a lot of improvement since last year, and was even able to make state in four events! She swam 2 individual events, her 500 free and 200 free, as well as 2 relays this season at state, and saw a lot of improvement! She states “I am particularly proud of accomplishing my main goal of going under 6 minutes in my 500 free. I met my goal by going a 5:57.72 at the state qualifier. I also went a 2:14.22 in my 200 free! I also was happy to max out my events at the state meet!”

Similar to Amanda, junior and captain Lily Cozens also maxed out her events at state, and swam a very good season. She improved in all of her events since the beginning of the season and explains, “At the beginning of the season, I had gained seconds on almost all my best times, and I was really discouraged. So, to be able to end the season with the best times on all my events was a blessing.”

Due to Lily’s determination and hard work, she bounced back from gaining time on her events and got her best times for each of them instead! Lily improved the most during her 200 individual medley, and also placed sixth during her 100 breaststroke, getting a new school record of 1:11.53 for it as well!

 

Another individual who excelled during this year’s swim season was sophomore Nick Murray. Nick made state in four events as well, and was really surprised at how well his season went. He explains, “I feel good about my overall improvement this season. I am proud that I was still able to see progress despite all the craziness that has been going on.”

Nick improved a lot this season, especially in his 100 free, because he placed eighth at state and even got a new personal record! Due to this year’s success, Nick is also confident that his improvement will benefit him even more next year, especially if it is a more normal season, since he now knows what he needs to focus on to truly succeed.

Every swimmer on this year’s swim team put in a lot of hard work, and in the end the team had great success! Even with strange guidelines and new adaptations, the swim team still continued to try their best, and in the end every athlete excelled in their events! The season ended on a high note at state, and thanks to the team’s hard work and improvement, I can already tell that next year’s season will be great too!

Swim Team Awards

Coaches Award
Noah Frazier
Priscila Deal
Most Improved
Jack Wollerman
Niamh Waddell
Most Valuable
Lily Cozens
Nick Murray