Willem Krick is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Xavier Prep for APreps365.com
 

After a 2-2 start, Xavier Prep hoped to get back on track Friday afternoon as hosts of the Brophy College Prep/Xavier College Prep Invite.

Led by two Top 20 finishes in the diving portion of the event courtesy of sophomore Maya Superfon and senior Michelle Mierzwa, Xavier seems to have gotten back on track through one day of competition, and the Gators are in a good position heading into the swimming portion of the event on Saturday.

Xavier swam into 2022 looking to build off of a seventh-place finish at last year’s state championship. After a 140-46 win at home against Chandler High in their first meet, things seemed to be heading in the right direction. However, the Gators’ season has been up and down after that first win three weeks ago: two big losses to Red Mountain and Horizon followed by an emphatic 107-77 win at Highland.

Despite the ups and downs, the team remains positive. 

“I was really pleased. I know the kids get frustrated - divers tend to be perfectionists - but I’m confident that just [by] getting additional repetitions in, this team is going to improve exponentially,” coach Frank Pipitone said following the meet. 

“The best thing that I saw today, honestly, was the girls supporting each other, talking to each other before their dives. I even have an athlete here who was injured - she was out here the entire day supporting her teammates. It helps to have somebody to lean on when you feel like something didn’t go well, and it’s pretty good to get a hug or high five from one of your teammates when you do something really well,” Pipitone said. 

Senior Michelle Mierzwa echoed Pipitone when she was asked about the Gators’ performance during Friday’s meet. 

“I think collectively we all did really well. We all did our best,” Mierzwa said.  

The positive assessment of Friday’s meet wasn’t just limited to older members of the team, however. Xavier sophomore Maya Superfon also thought the team performed well. 

“We had a lot of new things going on today, and everyone did really well. I put a new dive on my list, so that was really exciting,” Superfon said. 

Even though there were positives from Friday’s meet, Pipitone, Superfon and Mierzwa all agreed that the Gators still have room for improvement. 

“This is our first invite of the season, [so] there’s a lot of things we can do better. [We will] continue to work on both the physical sport and the mental game,” Pipitone said. 

Superfon also agreed that her mindset was something she could improve going forward. 

“If there’s anything I could work on, it’d be my mindset. You have a bad dive, just turn around and make sure it doesn’t affect the next one. This is just a really good baseline, and I’m hoping to build upon it going forward,” Superfon said. 

In terms of what else the team could improve, Mierzwa said she would like the team to become more consistent, particularly when it comes to working on new dives.