That disqualification in the 200-yard medley relay in the first race of the Arizona Division I state swimming and diving championships in early November ended up not crushing the Chaparral High School (Scottsdale, Arizona) girls’ national championship dream.
On Tuesday, they found out they were named the national public schools champs by the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association for the 2018-19 academic year.
RELATED: St. Xavier named boys NISCA champion
Chaparral ended up ranked No. 1 in the country with 6,376 points. Carmel (Indiana) was second at 6,348 points and Fairview (Boulder, Colorado) third at 6,113.
Because states compete in different seasons, the computer-generated final rankings weren’t released until now.
Arizona’s swimming-and-diving season runs in the fall.
Chaparral, led by Arizona Republic Female Swimmer of the Year Ashley Strouse and 100 butterfly record holder Greer Pattison, won the state championship with 477.5 points with Phoenix Xavier Prep second at 301.
Strouse, who will be a junior, and Pattison both won two individual state titles. Strouse broke her own state record in the 200 freestyle at 1 minute, 45.44 seconds and was first in the 500 at 4:48.70.
It’s OFFICIAL.
The Chaparral Public High School Girls Swim & Dive team are National Champs. The combined team of Boys and Girls placed 2nd and the Boys team placed 9th. These results will be posted online at https://t.co/fCCrWuSiPp shortly. Congratulations! #ChapSwim @azc_obert pic.twitter.com/3nSPvi15Eq— Chap Swim and Dive (@swimanddivechap) July 16, 2019
Chaparral coach Richie Krzyzanowski called the national championship an “unbelievable accomplishment.”
“It is an accomplishment that is so deserving to all the girls, because of their hard work in and out of the pool, their commitment to push each other in practices and meets, as well with being a team by appreciating not only their individual accomplishments but each other’s accomplishments,” Krzyzanowski said. “They are one heck of a group of girls that I have enjoyed coaching and getting to know last year but throughout their years at Chaparral.”
Krzyzanowski continued: “We couldn’t do this without everyone putting in their absolute best effort every time they jumped into the pool, the boys team support, as well with the parent/family support throughout the season, school support, and the great dynamic my assistant coach Russell Krzyzanowski (Richie’s brother) and I have. It’s hard to put words to this. It’s unbelievable.”
Chaparral’s girls and boys teams had a combined national ranking of No. 2 by NISCA and the boys team, led by The Republic‘s Male Swimmer of the Year, Matthew Leblanc finished ranked No. 9 in the country.
