Coming into the season with an experienced group, Sedona Red Rock High School’s swim team expected to be well represented at the state meet. Participating in the JR Pooler Invitational, a state qualifie, held at the Cottonwood Aquatics Center on Friday, Oct. 30, and Saturday, Oct. 31, the Scorpions ensured that they would be.
Thanks to the performances turned in at the qualifier, the SRRHS team guaranteed that it will be represented nine times at the state meet.
“The kids raced well, considering for the girls it was really early in the morning. It’s not the fastest pool and the kids haven’t done a full taper yet — they’ve just started resting up,” Sedona coach Dan Morse said. “Considering that, they actually raced really well and they went fast. We’re set up to have a good state meet.”
The busiest Scorpions at the state meet will be sophomore Carlos Lattanzi and senior Andrew Tate, who will both swim four events. Lattanzi and Tate finished first and second in the 500-yard freestyle at the qualifier. Lattanzi won it with a time of 4:49.46, while Tate was second at 4:58.92. Those times were good enough for the Scorpion teammates to be seeded second [Lattanzi] and fifth [Tate] in the 500 at state.
Lattanzi will additionally swim in the 200-yard individual medley while Tate will swim in the 200-yard freestyle. Lattanzi’s 200 IM time of 2:00.54 was good enough to win the sectional meet and be seeded third at state, while Tate’s finish of 1:50.87 in the 200-freestyle earned him a third place finish at sectionals and the No. 7 seed at state.
“I feel like it went better than I thought it would go,” Tate said of the qualifier. “And I was kind of cruising with everything. I wasn’t fully tapered yet but I still managed to have really good times. I feel like it set me up really well for state. I expect to do well.”
Two other Scorpion boys — seniors Cody Brefeld and Eric Schrader — qualified in individual events, as well. Schrader will be seeded 10th in the 50-yard freestyle while Brefeld will be seeded 11th in the 100-yard butterfly. Their qualifying times of 23.18 [Schrader] and 56.67 [Schrader] were both good enough for first place at sectionals.
In addition to the individual races, the Sedona boys also qualified for state in the 200 and 400 relays, with times of 1:37.43 and 3:30.75, which were both good enough for second at sectionals. The quartet of Tate, Lattanzi, Brefeld and Schrader will take the blocks for the Scorpions in both relays at state. They’ll be seeded seventh in the 200 and fourth in the 400.
On the girls side, SRRHS will be represented by junior Louise “Breezy” Taylor, who qualified in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 6:07.02, which was good enough for second at sectionals and will have her seeded 16th at state.
“It didn’t go exactly how I wanted it to go but the results could have been a lot worse — I’m pretty happy with how it came out, I think,” Taylor said. “It’s kind of a good thing that I didn’t qualify in the breaststroke because then I can focus on the 500 all this week instead of having two things that taper my attention. “I’m happy with it.”
Other positives were found in the performance of the girls relay teams. Morse in particular lauded the performance of senior Tiana Trujillo. Morse was proud of the way she handled her nerves, especially since, unlike most of her SRRHS teammates, Trujillo is new to competitive swimming and was therefore racing in her first event with opponents in the water with her, as the rest of the season had been all virtual meets.
The more normalized meet took some getting used to for even some of the more experienced Scorpions.
“I kind of forgot what it was like,” Tate said. “It’s so much better. I do not like swimming on my own. I’m very competition motivated. So having someone next to me really helped.”
The state meet will be held on Saturday, Nov. 7, at Phoenix Country Day School. As a way to limit crowding on the deck, no spectators will be allowed. The boys will race in the morning and the girls will be in the pool in the afternoon.
