The Canyon del Oro boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay team comes into the Division II State Meet with a time of 1:29.65, good enough for the top seed, just ahead of Verrado (1:30.28). The Dorados are also hoping to compete in the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay on the boy’s side with a time of 3:19.57.

Dorado freshman Riley Stewart, junior Alexander Pollock, senior Landyn Riester and senior Wyatt Matson recorded the top-seeded time at the Southern Arizona Regional Qualifier held at the Oro Valley Pool on Saturday, Oct. 27.

“Our chances seem to be pretty good,” Pollock said. “We’ve been doing everything we need to do to prepare ourselves in and out of the pool. And we’re all just such good friends. I mean we’re brothers and this is something we’ve been looking forward to for a long time so hopefully we can make some noise next week.”

Besides the relays, Pollock is seeded No. 13 in the 100 Yard Butterfly with a time of 54.83 and No. 8 in the 50 Yard Freestyle with a time of 22.36 while Riester is seeded No. 3 in the 100 Yard Freestyle with a time of 47.94 and No. 3 in the 200 Yard Freestyle with a time of 1:45.83.

The Chaparral boys brought home the 2016 and 2017 D-II state championship but the Firebirds are competing in Division I this year which leaves the top spot wide open for teams like Canyon del Oro, Catalina Foothills and Salpointe.

The Falcons took second to Chaparral in 2016 and 2017 but the program has 13 state championships to its name dating back to 2000. The Lancers won it all in 2011 and 2015. The Dorados claimed a second place finish way back in 1991 but the team hopes to break back into the top this year.

Chaparral also captured the 2016 and 2017 D-II state championships on the girls side, but like the boys, the program has shifted to D-I competition. The void leaves that spot open for teams such as Catalina Foothills and Arcadia. Catalina Foothills took second place last year and Arcadia came in third while Arcadia took second in 2016 and Catalina Foothills came in third

In all, the Falcons have won 10 state championships and Arcadia has 21.

The top seeds on the boy’s side include Stefan Cooley of Desert Mountain in the 200 Yard Free, Tanner Falls of Desert Mountain in the 200 IM, Quinn Teller of Salpointe in the 50 Free, Daniel Muller of Centennial in the 1-metter dive (returning champion), Harris Temple of Prescott in the 100 Fly, Harris Temple in the 100 Free (returning champion), Tanner Falls in the 500 Free, Jaden Nabor of Verrado in the 100 Back and Grant Greenbaum of Verrado in the 100 Breast.

For the girls, the top seeds are Ashley Outtrim of Desert Mountain in the 200 Free, Sydney Carlson of Arcadia in the 200 IM, Paige Treptow of Campo Verde in the 50 Free, Hailey Johnson of Cienega in the 1-meter dive, Sadie Edwards of Paradise Valley in the 100 Fly, Paige Treptow in the 100 Free, Sydney Carlson in the 500 Free and Sadie Edwards in the 100 Breast.

Other returning individual state champions include Scott Pekarske of Catalina Foothills in the 50 and 200 Free, Jaden Nabor in the 100 Fly and Hannah Houlton of Ironwood Ridge in the 50 and 100 Free. Chaparral won nine individual titles and five relays last year.

Besides Chaparral, Liberty, Queen Creek and Shadow Ridge also moved up to swim in Division I while Central, Desert Mountain, Gilbert, Horizon, Millennium, Rincon and Sunnyside moved down to D-II. Casteel and Combs moved up to D-II from D-III and Mohave and Shadow Mountain moved down to D-III. This new configuration will stay in effect for one more season.