Ireland Horvat is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Brophy College Preparatory for AZPreps365.com 

CHANDLER--The crowd of parents roared as Brophy College Prep kicked off its swim meet against Hamilton High School. Led by four seniors, the Broncos overpowered the Huskies in the 400-and 200-yard freestyle relay on the way to winning 105-94 on Thursday afternoon.

Finn Crawford, Jack Sorenson, Thomas Joswiak and Gabe Gonda (in order) swam their 400-freestyle relay. Their team members were shouting at the end of the pool to give them that burst of energy needed to finish the race in first place with a time of 1:34.4. 

Joswiak and Sorenson are best friends. "This meet, it was just fun to do different events," said Joswiak. "We like to motivate each other, we know how to get each other to push our hardest.”

Senior Bryce Fitzgerald swam in his first meet in a year after a successful medial patella-femoral ligament (MPFL) surgery.  Fitzgerald placed third in the 100 backstroke , an event he had dominated before the operation. He also placed second in the 100 butterfly with a time of 56.99.

“It was good, I like my fly, I felt strong but on the way back it was pretty rough,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m out of shape.” 

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Holy Cross commit Sorenson, or as his mom calls him, “the Hammer,” went out of his comfort zone swimming butterfly during the 200 medley. “It was interesting, it was fun to experiment,” Sorenson said. “Normally there's a lot more pressure when I do the backstroke just because it’s leading off and I have to get us a good start.” 

To prepare his athletes for the meet, head coach Daren Brubaker switched up some of the swimmers’ strokes. “The most important thing right now is just racing,” Brubaker said. “Feeling uncomfortable if they do the same race over and over it just becomes boring.”

Due to a COVID-19 outbreak during the 2020 season, Brophy did not take part in last year's state meet, ending its astounding 32-year championship streak, a feat that may never be replicated. “We’re really honestly not talking about it,” Brubaker said. 

Brophy Prep will host its next dual meet on Thursday, Oct. 21 against Desert Vista at 4 p.m.