Erin Patterson is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Tempe Preparatory Academy fro AZPreps365.com

The Tempe Preparatory swim team splashed its way to a 180-88 win over Tempe High School on Thursday at McClintock Pool. The Knights (2-1) are now on a two-meet winning streak.

The first event of the meet was the boys 200 medley relay. Tempe High had a strong start winning that event with a time of 2:25.35. The Buffaloes continued the hot streak into the boys 200 freestyle where freshman David Pugh finished first over Tempe Prep’s Ethan Rynish. (CQ)

“We did a lot of new races today but when we are swimming against a team that’s similar in size to us and similar in skill level to us the kids are able to compete and have fun competing,” Tempe High coach Ryan Dignan said, “I think that’s what we did the best out there today, just getting out and actually racing.”

The Buffaloes did not stay on their streak for long as Tempe Prep won the next six events. Sophomore Stella Andersson won the 50 freestyle with a time of 29.60, a personal best.

“That’s something she (Andersson) has been working on for a while,” Tempe Prep coach Maria Zello said. “She’s younger, too, so it was exciting. She has been sitting at a 31 for some time and finally got under 30 today. It was probably our most exciting event of the day.”

Another swimmer that stood out to Zello was sophomore Joshua Layos. 

“Josh has been with the team since middle school,” Zello said, “He’s a homeschooler. Something I really like about Tempe Prep is we have homeschoolers come and swim with us. It has just been really awesome to watch him grow.”

Layos swam the 200 individual medley, the 200 freestyle relay, the 100 breaststroke and the 400 freestyle relay. Layos swam both the 200 freestyle relay and the 400 freestyle relay alongside Joseph Cady, Nick Murray and Brian Mause. They won the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:46.69 and they won the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 4:19.87.

“For the 200 free relay, I felt better and I think my kicks were better than they usually are,” Layos said, “My flipturn was faster and I had much better underwaters.”

Tempe prep continued to dominate the meet in the girls 100 freestyle and both boys and girls 500 freestyle.

“We had a lot of new swimmers trying new events," Zello said. "My goal was to fill the 500 which we got done and is not something that we’ve gotten done this season. It’s all about trying new things.”  

Taking the lead for the girls both in and out of the water was captain Naomi Palmer, who swam in the 200 medley relay, the 50 freestyle, the 100 freestyle and the 400 freestyle relay.

“My relays felt pretty good,” Palmer said, “I’ve been swimming breaststroke for the medley relay which has felt pretty good. I have consistently been dropping time and I feel like I have really been pushing myself. My 100 free was pretty strong., I think I could have done better but I thought my turns were tight and it was overall a strong swim from start to finish.” 

Palmer and her 400 freestyle relay team – Autumn Evdokimo, Sofie Youngs and Lilly Henderson – ended the meet by winning the relay with a time of 4:56.62. 

The Buffaloes (0-3) will host Coronado at McClintock Pool at 4 p.m. Thursday. The Knights will have their next meet against Northland Preparatory Academy, Scottsdale Christian Academy and Phoenix Country Day School at Phoenix Country Day at 4 p.m. Tuesday.