Bittersweet end to Kofa swim season

Senior David Nye is the lone King swimmer advancing to state competition

YUMA, Ariz. ( KYMA, KECY-TV ) - The Kofa High School swim teams completed their seasons on October 25th during the DC twilight at Cortez pool. It was the final chance for Kofa swimmers to drop times in their events in hopes of qualifying for the state meet.

"Just the atmosphere of the last swim meet of the year," Kofa head coach Bill Packham said. "The kids were really excited, they had a lot of fun, especially after they got their first events out of the way."

Packham adds that a lot of his swimmers posted some of the their best times of the season.

"Most of the kids got personal best times," Packham said. "They had a lot of fun. As a coach, you can't ask for more than the joy on their faces when they do their best after all of the hard work that they put in.  It's funny that once they get that taste of dropping time in their events, they can't wait for their next chance to drop even more time.  It also gave them motivation to look forward to next year build on their accomplishments."

The boys' relay team of David Nye, Jacob Rouff, Will Rouff and Fr. Roman Jacobo swam well in their races according to Coach Packham.  

The girls' 200 medley team had fun featuring Jasmine Escalera, Aleah Hassan, Iliana Mejia and Lya Villegas.

The girls' 200 and 400 freestyle team of Elena Packham, Veronica Packham, Lya Villegas and Aleah Hassan swam well and won rubber ducks for winning their race heats.

Despite the drop in times, only senior David Nye qualified for state in two individual races in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly.

"Bittersweet end to the swim season," Packham said. "Kofa moved up to Division I this year and the competition was fierce. We had a few kids qualify for state times, but only the top 40 individuals and 30 relays ultimately get to go to state."

Senior Jacob Rouff qualified for state in the 200 freestyle and the 100 backstroke. 

Senior David Nye qualified for state in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly. 

Freshman William Rouff qualified for state in the 100 backstroke and 100 breastroke.

Junior Elena Packham qualified for state in the 500 freestyle and 100 breastroke.

The boys relay team of David Nye, Jacob Rouff, Will Rouff and Roman Jacobo qualified for state in all three relays. 

"It's funny how relays work out," Packham said. "Each kid has to do their part to help the team swim faster.  All of the little things matter, especially relay exchanges. For the 200 medley relay, if you combine all of the boys' fastest times, they would be in the top 30 and going to state. They gave it their best and came so close to making it to state as a team and almost broke the school record."

It's not the ending Packham or his swimmers were hoping for but in the end, when looking back, it was another successful season for the Kofa Kings.

"We had a great swim season." Packham said. "We had a lot of new swimmers and lots of great friendships and memories were made.  We changed up the dual meet setups, and it worked great. We had some good sponsors (MGM Design, Yuma International Airport, Round Table Pizza, Prison Hill Brewery) and fundraisers this year to help cover our state qualifier invitational meets. Hopefully, we can use this year's success to get more swimmers next year."