Grace Del Pizzo is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Desert Mountain High School for AZPreps365.com. 

Desert Mountain High School’s swim team put up an excellent showing at the 2022 Paul Thornburgh Scottsdale Unified School District Championship on Saturday at Cactus Aquatic & Fitness Center in Scottsdale, finishing second overall.

Five schools swam at the championship meet, including Chaparral, Desert Mountain, Arcadia, Saguaro and Coronado.

“I just wanted the kids to be relaxed,” Desert Mountain head coach Crystal Strimple said of her goals heading into the meet. “This is their last invite before we go into states… I didn’t want this to be high stress, ‘you have to win, you have to do this.’ I just wanted them to be proud of themselves.”

Desert Mountain entered Saturday’s meet looking to build on its previous success. Both the boys’ and girls’ teams took home state titles at the 2021 AIA Division II State Championships, and the girls’ team also won the state title in 2020.

“I think definitely trying to threepeat that state title is really pushing us hard through the season,” junior Gabbie Primiano said.

Desert Mountain finished first in 13 events total. Primiano took home first place in all four of her events, including two relays – the 4x50 medley relay and the 4x100 freestyle relay – and two individual events – the 200 IM and the 100 breaststroke.

“I was really happy to go a best time, actually, in the 200 IM and then win both the 200 IM and the 100 breast, because there’s definitely some really fast girls here,” Primiano said.

Sophomore Ellie Horning swam with Primiano in both the 4x50 medley relay and the 4x100 freestyle relay and took home a win of her own in the 100 backstroke, where she finished a full five seconds ahead of the nearest competitor.

“I won 100 back[stroke] at districts last year too, so I was really hoping I could win again, and it was awesome to do that again,” Horning said. “It’s really easy to go fast when you have the whole team behind you.”

The last event of the night was the girls’ 400 freestyle relay, which both Horning and Primiano swam in alongside sophomores Emerson Therrien and Juliette Daigneault.

“I was really tired, but I had the team behind me and they were really just cheering me on,” Primiano said of her experience closing out both the relay and the swim meet with a win for Desert Mountain. “That’s what just kept me motivated.”

While it isn’t what the Wolves wanted, their second-place finish will only serve to motivate them as they look forward. With their performances on Saturday, many Desert Mountain swimmers earned automatic berths to compete in the 2022 AIA Division II State Championships Nov. 4-5.

“I know what I have to work on, so that’s great,” senior captain Theodore Pham said. “It’s always good to know what to improve upon for states in a few weeks.”

Overall, despite ultimately finishing behind Chaparral in the final standings, Desert Mountain felt positive about its performance.

“I’m very proud of the team as captain,” Pham said. “Couldn’t be more proud of the team. I’m just very happy for them and happy with what we’ve done here tonight.”

Strimple added, “I was really proud of them. Some of them have been sick, some of them just mentally get really locked up… so to watch a lot of them just calm down and breathe through it and just race, and go a best time, is really big for them. It was awesome.”

According to Strimple, the team’s goal for the state championship meet is quite simple.

“Honestly, I would love for us to win again, but I just want them to go and have the experience and be good humans and make sure that they’re representing their school in the best way that they can,” Strimple said. “If we win, that’s a bonus for us, and if we don’t win, but they walk away with best times and they’ve done what they needed to do, then that’s more success for us.”