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WEST VALLEY PREPS
Estrella Foothills swimmer caps career with 2 more titles
Helps two relays place among top six
Independent Newsmedia/Jason W. Brooks
Estrella Foothills senior Tanner Sheffert, left, poses with his state championship medal for the 100-yard freestyle Saturday at the Division 2 state meet in Mesa. To his left is Emmett Jones of Campo Verde — one of the competitors Sheffert beat to win both the 100- and 200-yard freestyle titles in Saturday’s finals.
MESA — When he stepped onto a podium Saturday to claim his 100-yard freestyle Division 2 state championship medal, Tanner Sheffert looked gassed.
That’s probably because for the second time in about a one-hour span, the Estrella Foothills senior had swum fast enough to win an individual state championship.
Sheffert, whose school moved up from Division 3 to 2 this year in swimming, won 500-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley titles at the D3 state meet in 2023. He coupled those longer-distance titles with 200- and 100-freestyle championships at this year’s Division 2 meet Saturday at Skyline High School.
“Those were pretty challenging fields,” Sheffert said after winning his second state championship medal Saturday. “The times were what I wanted. So I’m pretty happy with that.”
Sheffert helped the EFHS boys team place ninth in Division 2, among 32 scoring teams, with 149 points. The girls team scored 32 points, placing 21st.
In 2023, the Estrella boys were 12th in Division 3 with 86 points and the girls were 21st with 25.
Sheffert said in the pool, he usually has a strong sense of how close his competitors are — especially if they’re in a nearby lane.
“I try to see most of that,” he said. “You’re really not supposed to do that. But, mostly when I’m breathing, I try to see where I’m at in the race. It can make me go faster — kick my legs a little more.”
Sheffert said he plans to swim in college but isn’t sure yet where.
He also helped the Wolves’ relays. He teamed with fellow seniors Caed Waks, Dane Robinson and Gabriel Rodriguez to place fifth in the 400-yard relay and sixth in the 200 relay.
Sophomore Brandon Swetman placed fourth in 1-meter diving.
The Estrella girls got a 10th-place finish from senior Ashlyn Popham in the 100-yard backstroke. She also placed fourth in the consolation final of the 50 freestyle.
Jason W. Brooks is a News editor for the Daily Independent and the Chandler Independent.
He covers the Chandler area for both yourvalley.net and the monthly print edition while writing for and assisting in the production of the Daily Independent.
Brooks is a well-traveled journalist who has documented life in small American communities in nearly all U.S. time zones.
Born in Washington, D.C. and raised there and in suburban Los Angeles, he has covered community news in California, New Mexico, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska and northern Arizona.
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