Jamal Walker is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Westwood High School for AZPreps365.com.

The Westwood swim and dive team huddled in front of the entrance to the Kino Aquatic Center in Mesa for a team meeting where head coach Joey Rusnak spoke to the team about the importance of the Mesa City Swim and Dive championships on October 25.

Before breaking the Warriors meeting, Rusnak loudly reminded his team to never forget it is an honor and privilege to swim on a relay team. 

The Warriors proved worthy of this honor. The girls qualified for state in all three relays and the boys relay team qualified for two events. The Westwood Warriors added seven additional individual qualifiers including senior diver Charly Sharp. Westwood finished fourth overall at the city championship hosted by the Mesa HoHoKams.

“This was awesome,” Rusnak said. “It was better than I could have imagined. I challenged them to compete today and they stepped up to that challenge and went far beyond it. They exceeded all my expectations
so it was super fun to just watch them have that success.”

The last time Westwood swam at Kino on October 2, things did not go swimmingly for the team. The Warriors were unable to place in any of the events. The team used the event as a chance to adjust to the taller blocks and bulkhead wall that they don’t have at their home pool in the Carson Aquatic Center in Mesa.

A swimmer qualifies for state by swimming under the minimum time in their event in addition to being one of the top 40 swimmers in their event. Divers must score above 250 points at two city-approved meets and be ranked in the top 40 as well to advance to state.

Sharp was the first qualifier for the Warriors, scoring 263.05 points throughout the diving championships’ 11 rounds. Sharp scored 29.75 in round 11 for her forward one-and-a-half somersault pike.

Senior Charly Sharp performs an inward flip scoring 28 points at the Mesa City Swim and Dive championships on October 25.

“Dive is such a mental sport because you're only in the air for three seconds,” diving coach Stella Pickron said. “I'm excited to see how Charly performs in state and we’re going to be busy for the next two weeks getting ready for it.”

The State Championships for diving will be held November 5 at the Phoenix Country Day School Aquatic Center.

Junior Eliza Anderson won the girls 100-yard breaststroke in 1 minute, 11.94 seconds – 3 seconds ahead of her competitors. Two events later, she was part of the second-place relay team.

In the girls 400-yard freestyle relay, senior Lilly Merritt swam a strong first leg for the team to be in the third position. Junior Kendall Von Burg maintained the team’s position when Anderson leapt into the pool showing no signs of fatigue from her previous race and continued the ladies sub minute 100-yard split while tightening her distance from second place. Anderson quickly left the pool and began cheering with her teammates as senior Heather Speakman swam the fastest leg of the race for her team at 55.75.

Unaware of how close the relay race was, Speakman swam like there was no tomorrow and touched the wall second for her team at 3:50.46. The time was the team’s best of the season, shaving 12.45 seconds from their previous entry.

“I knew it was really close,” Speakman said.

Unaware of how close the race was, Anderson wanted to give her absolute best for her teammates. 

“My mindset was, ‘It's my last year, I might as well try as hard as I can,'" Anderson said. "I’ve been trying to get a time I haven’t gotten yet.”

Speakman led the swim team, scoring 34 of the team’s 534 points. Anderson had 31, Merritt contributed 30 as members of the relay teams and in individual events. 

Freshman Jett John has been on the relay teams since the beginning of the season and echoed Rusnak’s sentiments of being honored to have been picked for a spot on the team. The young swimmer improved his times in three of the four events he qualified in and said it’s the team atmosphere he enjoys most.

“The relays are really fun to do,” John said. “I love all the relays and I’m so excited to be on the team.”

Sophomore Henry Carmona and senior Kitt Collard will join John at state competing in individual events for the Warriors. 

The Swimming State Championships are November 8 at the Skyline Aquatic Center.