Corona del Sol senior Andrew Howard and Chandler sophomore Laura Mozden on Saturday electrified Arrowhead Pool in Chandler during the Thunder-Wolf Classic.
The pair combined for three meet records on a day in which youth was served and a red-faced coach won his second-straight meet.
Howard won the 50-yard freestyle in 21.80 second and the 100 freestyle in 47.84 to shatter meet marks that stood for five and six years, respectively. Chaparral’s Garrett Hildebrand (22.00) had the previous best time in the 50, while Phoenix Brophy’s Richard Hall (48.05) was the old record holder in the 100.
"My idea was to come in and break these records," said Howard, who said he can knock three more seconds off his time in the 100.
Mozden swam the 100 butterfly in 58.74 to best Hamilton’s Abby Hanke's time (58.97) from last year, and also won the 200 individual medley (2:14.59).
"I just try to race and let the time take care of itself," Mozden said.
In team competition, Dobson put a smile back on the face of coach Jeff Anderson by capturing the boys title with 305 points. Desert Vista (232) was second followed by Horizon (218).
The victory marked the second big win of the week for Dobson, which defeated rival Mountain View in a dual meet Thursday. One week ago, Anderson’s inadvertent scoring mistake in the boys competition resulted in two recounts at the Mesa Relays, which went to Mountain View. There was no mistake Saturday, and the other coaches good-naturedly needled Anderson.
"They said that one of the accounting firms was going to let the score be known after every event," Anderson said. "I’m the butt of many jokes now. Our boys were tired and some of them were sick, but they swam well today."
Tucson Salpointe scored 273 points to beat out Mercer Island (Wash.) (245) and Corona del Sol (207) for the girls title. Dobson also won the combined team title (433) with Desert Vista (419) second and Horizon (410) third.
Desert Vista’s Darren Maxwell was the only other two-event winner on the boys side, capturing the 100 backstroke (55.16) and 100 butterfly (54.34). Other boys winners from the East Valley included Dobson’s Ryan Kiley (1:1.17) in the 100 breaststroke, Corona's Nate Telep in the the 200 IM (2:00.33) and Horizon’s Josh Keever in the 200 (1:48.98).
For the girls, Hamilton freshman Katherine Smith won the 100 backstroke (1:02.08) and was second in the 200 IM (2:15.22). Westwood freshman Jessica Davis captured the 100 breaststroke (1:08.74) and Mesa’s Bethanie Vrieling was first in the 50 freestyle (25.52).
