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Ryan Hoffer will be chasing the national high school record in the 50-yard freestyle at this weekend’s Arizona high school championships as he looks to help crown Chapparal High School as Division I boys’ team champions.
Hoffer is looking for his third-straight state title in the 50 free, and the junior will be well ahead of the field. Likely on his mind is the national high school record of 19.29 by Caeleb Dressel from 2013. Hoffer’s current best time is 19.38 from last December’s junior national championships, which stands as the 15-16 USA Swimming national age group record. Hoffer is now 17 years old, and will have a long way to go to beat Dressel’s 17-18 national age group record of 18.67, which Dressel swam to win the NCAA championship last March.
Hoffer won the 100 freestyle last year, but is swimming the 100 butterfly this year for his second individual event. Hoffer won the junior national title in the 100 fly last December with a 46.42, less than a second away from Joseph Schooling’s national high school record of 45.52.
Though Hoffer is not swimming the 100 free individually at the state meet, he could swim on the first leg of Chapparal’s 400 free relay at the end of the meet to get an official time. His lifetime best 42.67 is on the cusp of breaking David Nolan’s national high school record of 42.34, which Nolan also did leading off a relay.
With Hoffer out of the 100 free, that leaves the door open for teammate Jack Blake to shine in the event. Blake is seeded with his lifetime best 46.16, and might need to swim that fast to hold off Joshua Vedder of Desert Vista. Blake will also be in the 50 free, and will likely place second to give Brophy Prep big points. Notably, Hoffer and Blake train together daily at Scottsdale Aquatic Club, and will likely be looking for that 1-2 finish.
Mark Jurek will be participating in a tough double this weekend, racing in the 200 free and 200 IM events with less than 15 minutes between events. Jurek is in line to win his third 200 IM title, but will have a tough battle to take the 200 free crown. Jurek stepped away from the 100 fly this year after winning the event for the past two years, missing out on a duel with Hoffer.
On the girls’ side for Division I, look for Taylor Ruck to be the star of the show. She is coming off a very successful world junior championships, where she collected two gold medals in the 100 and 200 freestyles and a bronze in the 200 backstroke for Canada. Ruck will be racing the 200 and 500 freestyles, and the Chapparal sophomore will be aiming to improve on her state records.
Another Taylor will be the headliner of the girls’ Division II meet. In this case, it’s Taylor Nations from Sabino High School. Nations won the 100 free and 100 back in her junior year, but is entered in the 100 fly and 100 back this weekend.
With perennial champion Catalina Foothills moving from Division II to Division I this season, look for a new team champion in the Division II ranks this weekend. Notre Dame Prep and Verrado will be the contenders for the team titles in both genders.
Swimming prelims take place Friday at 9:30 a.m. for Division II and 2:30 p.m. for Division I at the Skyline Aquatic Center in Mesa. The finals will take place at the same time Saturday for both divisions.
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I am a proud SAC parent and Brophy swimmer. Good luck to all the kids this weekend. This article could have been better written, however. Mark stepping wisely away? That seems like a low blow. I think you should reflect positively on all these kids. IIRC, Mark won 200 fly 2 years ago? I don’t remember, as my kids do different events
meant swim parent.
Sharon, perhaps you are right about the sentence regarding Jurek not swimming the 100 fly. I’ve amended the sentence to reflect his history with the event. It would have been nice to see him and Hoffer race the 100 fly.
Yes, that would have been a fun one to watch as well. 🙂
We fans certainly look forward to all the athletes doing their best and having some great races.
Beyond Ruck, Hoffer and Jurek there are others not mentioned in the article who are returning to race as either high school state record holders or Junior National champions in their club swimming.
Ben Olszewski (Horizon Senior) 500 Free – won last year in a record 4:21.48
. Aaron Apel (Pinnacle Junior) was third to Olszewski last year but this summer won the 800 free at Junior Nationals in San Antonio
There is no doubt that Taylor Ruck is well on her way to being one of the finest female swimmers ever produced in Arizona but in swimming the 200 and 500 free events she will not be “…aiming to improve on her state records in those events.” At least not high school records. As a freshman last year she did break the 200 Free record with a 1:46.76 (prior mark Cait Conneally, 1:47.06) but in winning the 500 at 4:52.11, she was nearly 10 seconds off the 2007 record of 4:42.61 set by Ashley Evans of Pinnacle. Ruck did go on a month later at Winter Junior Nationals to swim 4:41.38 (1:45.81 200 in same meet) but that simply suggests she has a chance to break Ashley’s state high school record in the 500, not her own. Taylor certainly had choices as to the events to pursue HS records in as her 100 free at Winter Juniors was :48.45, over a second ahead of the :49.50 record of Tracy Schwartz of Dobson.
Sorry: hit enter by mistake before completing proofing: Apel won 1500, not 800, in San Antonio
Chandler Senior Jurek’s event choice certainly seems unusual in relation to his best events, but he could be record chasing. He already holds the records in the 200 IM and 100 Fly. (though he’s likely to lose the 100 fly record this weekend, he has held it for two years) The next most likely reachable record event for him is the 200 free where Tyler Messerschmidt (2010, Desert Edge) is the record holder at 1:36.33 and Jurek’s best time is 1:37.90 at last spring’s Texas sectional meet.
The main risks Jurek faces are likely from club teammates Olszewski (1:39.67 — 1.77 differential) and Antonio Ramirez (Arcadia Senior) who, like Jurek, is an Olympic Trials qualifier in the 400 IM. Ramirez was not in the high school meet last year so it is hard to compare directly, but Jurek’s best 200 scy IM is 1:47.03 while Ramirez was 1:52.36 (5.33 diff) while their LCM bests are separated only by just over 3 seconds. And Antonio gets to go up against Mark after Ben has softened him up a bit. Both could be interesting races, but my thought is that Jurek should be able to complete his third double. (as a Freshman Mark was 7th in both IM and Fly)
Another guy that is in shouting range of one of the current records is Bryce Kuchan, Mesa Mountain View Senior. Kuchan was :49.56 last year (:50.7 prelim) in the 100 Fly after winning his City meet in :51.92. This year he won his City meet in :49.46 (51.10) in the prelim. A similar City-State drop this year, though not likely at this level, would put him at :47.10, well under Jurek’s current record (Who knows where Hoffer will be?)
In any event (in all events?) there should be some great races this weekend at Skyline, where the Arena Pro Series is contested LCM in the same tank in the spring.
Joshua Vedder is now a member of Scottsdale Aquatic Club, so he is also teammates with Blake and Hoffer.