As many fall sports are coming to a close, Sahuaro’s swim season is ending with a lone state qualifier. Senior Zachary Sierra was the only Sahuaro swimmer who qualified for the 2018 Swim & Dive State Championships.

Sierra qualified in the 200 meter freestyle and was the first alternate for the 500 meter freestyle. The top 24 swimmers in each swimming event participate in the state swim meet. His 500 meter freestyle qualifying time was 5:24 (5 minutes and 24 seconds) and his 200 meter freestyle time was 1:58 (1 minute and 58 seconds).

The championships started on Thursday November 2, 2018 and continued through the weekend. The event was held at the Phoenix Country Day School, Dady Aquatics & Tennis Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Zach Sierra; his brother, Robert Sierra; his friends, freshmen Joe Zwierlein and Nathan Kruzewski; and the coaches, Dave and Jennifer Kruzewski all left Tucson on Wednesday night. The next morning, they woke up early and headed to the meet.

Sierra swam the 200 meter freestyle on Thursday with a time of a 1:57 (1 minute and 57 seconds). When asked about his experience, he said, “I have a lack of words. It’s just so cool to see different types of people swimming and being passionate about their event.”

He has gone to State the past 2 years of high school. He started swimming at the age of 4 when his mom put him in swim classes. He then joined a team later and fell in love with it. His favorite event is the 500 freestyle and he doesn’t like the 200 individual medley race. His favorite swim stroke is freestyle and his least favorite is butterfly.

While he doesn’t know what college he is going to yet, he is interested in swimming in college. He hopes to go to Arizona State University so that he can swim under the coaching of Michael Phelps; it’s a dream he has had for awhile. Besides swimming, he hopes to become a commercial airline pilot and study aerospace.

When asked about what he thought of the swim season, Sierra said, “We have really amazing coaches and team-wise we are really good. I was lucky to swim with such amazing people in high school.”

The coaches, the team, and his family are all very proud of him as he continues to represent Sahuaro’s swim legacy.