Grace Hand is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Brophy Prep for AZPreps365.com

Brophy Prep picked up its third team victory of the season at home on Thursday against Horizon, 116-69. The Broncos took first in two out of three relays and three individual events. 

Sophomore sprinter Asher Gomez finished with a time of 1:47:96 in the men’s 200 free to take first place, beating teammate Nicolas Wood by almost three seconds. Brophy senior Jackson Douglas allowed his team to take a 1-2-3 finish in the event. 

Gomez swam in four events. He anchored the men’s 200 free relay, which Brophy won with a time of 1:30:75. His other two events–100 free and 400 free relay–ended in second-place finishes. 

“I went into the races knowing I was going to swim hard,” Gomez said, “knowing that I practiced my splits in practice, knowing that I trained for the mile so that I could swim the 50, 100, and 200 fast so it won’t make me tired.”

Senior Teddy Neilson, who swam right before Gomez in the 200 free relay, also swam in four races. His time of 1:58:47 in the men’s 200 IM was more than seven seconds ahead of Horizon junior Benjamin Bryzelak, who settled for second.

“Today’s performance was all what I’ve been doing in the water with my training,” Neilson said. “When I’m swimming I’m competing. I’m not thinking about the time, I’m just thinking about my process. Just focusing on what I’ve been training to do.” 

The men’s 400-free relay rounded out the day of competition with the Broncos’ A and B relay squads in first and second place with times of 3:19:26 and 3:25:59. A strong Horizon relay took third with a time of 3:28:35.

“We have a lot of great swimmers this year at Horizon,” said Kyle Shillingburg, Horizon co-head coach. “There’s nothing to be disappointed about. We’re just excited by what we’re seeing and we’re ready for the next meet.”

The final first-place finish for the Broncos came in the men’s 1-meter diving competition, where senior Sean Kennedy finished with a score of 225.0.

Brophy coach Daren Brubaker saw lots of positives in his team’s performance, noting how sophomore Noah Swetlishoff and freshman Levi Gomez improved on their best times. Swetlishoff took 27 seconds off in the 500 free while Gomez’s time dropped by 12 seconds in the 100 fly.

The 69 points scored by Horizon were the most of any opponent the Broncos faced this season. Brubaker wants his team to remember that they should not sit back and stop working.

“I think the biggest thing right now is we shouldn’t be complacent,” Brubaker said. “We just roll through, but that’s not fair. They need to know that there’s teams like Horizon that can beat us. They shouldn’t be comfortable.”

Brophy Prep travels to Gilbert on Thursday, where the Broncos will face Highland at Greenfield Junior High at 4 p.m. Horizon will host North Canyon and Shadow Ridge at 4 p.m. Thursday.