By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

Aydan Prassas says one needs to have fun in order to be fast.

The Liberty senior boys swimmer certainly looked like he was having fun Nov. 8 when he won an individual state championship and helped lead a senior-heavy Lions boys team to a 10th-place team points finish in Division I with 134 points.

“A leader sets the tone and has people follow the tone, and also just have a good time,” Prassas said. “One thing I love about swimming fast is that you have to have fun. You have to enjoy what you’re doing to be fast.”

Prassas lived up to his status of having the best seed time in the D-I boys 100 butterfly, winning the final in that event with a time of 48.7 seconds. That was nearly two full seconds faster than the Brophy Prep runner-up.

Brophy, which also had the third-place butterfly swimmer in the butterfly, easily outpaced the runner-up Mountain View team for the boys points title. Millennium, one of the few other well-represented West Valley schools in the D-1 championships, placed fourth.

His time in the final was fast enough to earn All-American consideration.

Prassas also narrowly beat Ewan Cain of Millennium to the wall in the 100 backstroke final, giving Prassas second place.

The Liberty senior also teamed with fellow seniors Brady Chavarria and Zane Sanders and Vinny Ibarola on a pair of relays — the medley and the 200 freestyle — that each placed fifth.
Coach Jessi Wilk said the medley foursome broke its own school record by swimming its fastest time of the season at state.

“It’s going to cost me some money to update the record board, but that’s good money to spend,” Wilk said, smiling. “I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Prassas said he wants to attend a four-year college preferably out-of-state, that has a competitive men’s swim program.

“Whatever fits me, fits me,” Prassas said.

Chavarria, one of the other Liberty senior boys, placed 13th in the 100 breaststroke. Sanders made the final in the 200 individual medley and was 13th in the butterfly.

The Liberty girls, who placed 24th as a team with 36 points, got two strong relay performances from the quartet of Abeygail Hajeski, Peyton Rollins, Sophia Tatz and Faith Stevenson. That squad placed 12th in the 400 freestyle and 13th-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay.

Jason W. Brooks can be reached at jbrooks@iniusa.org. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as those meet our  Civility Guidelines.

INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA

Jason W. Brooks
News Editor | Chandler Independent

Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.

Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.

Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.

Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.

Community: He supports animal shelters.