MESA — After one of her races in Friday in the prelims of the Division 1 state swim meet, Kaylee Woodruff seemed pleased, yet focused.
“It went well,” she said. “I won my heat.”
That was Heat 3, amid the four qualifying heats in the 50-yard freestyle. The O’Connor junior ended up placing second in the 50 freestyle final and was third in the 100 freestyle Saturday in the championships, held at Skyline High School.
Woodruff placed second in the 50 freestyle as a sophomore last year, with her time of 23.89 seconds being about a half-second behind winner and then-senior Sophia Jahn of Red Mountain.
Woodruff also placed seventh in the 100 freestyle at state.
This year, Woodruff headed to state with the second-best seed time in both the 50 and the 100, with sophomore Delaney Barbee of Boulder Creek the only one faster.
That’s how the finals ended up, with Barbee easily winning both events Saturday. Woodruff was about 1 second behind Barbee in the 50 final. Both Barbee and Emilie Griffin of Mountain View finishing ahead of Woodruff in the 100 final.
Barbee was invited to this summer’s U.S. Olympic trials as a 15-year-old.
Woodruff was among a handful of O’Connor state qualifiers each of the past two seasons. She helped the Eagle girls place 12th in Division 1 at last year’s meet; this year, both the O’Connor girls and boys placed 18th.
Millennium
The Tiger boys, buoyed by strong relay performances, placed third in Division 1 behind Brophy College Prep and Pinnacle.
The highlight of the meet for the Tigers was probably their state championship in the medley relay. Millennium appeared to finish a very close second behind favorite and top-seed Arizona College Prep, but the Knights were disqualified, handing the title to the Tigers.
The medley team of Ewan Cain, Joel Arnold, Marcos Bravo and Cole Faut swam a time of 1 minute, 35 seconds.
The Tigers also racked up points by placing fifth in both the 200 and the 400-yard relays.
Faut also placed third in the 50-yard freestyle and was fourth in the 100 freestyle. Bravo took third in the 100 breaststroke sixth in the 100 butterfly.
Zac Clark placed third in the 200 freestyle and was seventh in the 500 freestyle for the Tiger boys.
Cain was sixth in the 100 backstroke and seventh in the 200 individual medley.
The Millennium girls placed 20th with 56 points. Libby Miller placed ninth in the 500 freestyle.
Liberty
The Liberty boys were led by Aydan Prassas, who was fifth in the 100 butterfly and seventh in the 100 backstroke.
The Liberty boys placed 13th in Division 1 with 86 points.
Ezekiel Raybourn won the 1-meter diving state title for Liberty.
The Lions’ medley relay team placed 13th.
The Liberty girls placed 27th with 23.5 points. Faith Stevenson reached the consolation finals of the 50 freestyle.
We invite our readers to submit their civil comments on this topic. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Email Jason W. Brooks at jbrooks@iniusa.org.
Jason W. Brooks
Associate Editor
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.
By 
