John Cascella is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Dobson High School for AZPreps365.com.

CHANDLER-- ‘Go, go, go’ echoed throughout Nozomi Aquatic Center as teammates and parents cheer on the swimmers racing by. Matching up with the Arete Chargers and Mountain Pointe Pride, Dobson ended the meet both victorious and in defeat. The boys team's win improved their record to 2-1 while the girls team's loss pushed them to 0-3.

The Dobson boys finished with 85 points, followed by Mountain Pointe at 65 and Arete closed it out with one point. On the girl’s side, Mountain Pointe led the pack with 78 points, Dobson placed second with 48 and Arete finished in third with 28.

“The swimmers have come a long way,” said boys head coach Brian Mellott after their second win of the year. “The more experienced swimmers are doing well, and the ones that are just beginning are finding their stride.”

The Dobson boys came away with a big win over Mountain Pointe after finishing one place behind them in last season’s Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) Division 1 Swim & Dive Championship. Carson Hamblin was only a sophomore last year, yet was a part of every point scored in Dobson’s 15th place effort. Now a junior, that same energy was present in Hamblin’s swims as he won first in every event he swam in.

“I was more happy about the 2[00] IM than I was the 100 free,” said Hamblin after his victory in freestyle. He cited a competition with his teammate for his motivation to race the IM, “my only goal was to beat him.”

Hamblin finished the day with a 1:57.5 in the 200 IM, nine seconds ahead of second-place, and with a 50.0 in the 100 freestyle which would’ve placed him in 13th at last season’s states meet.

Dobson's girls team is currently in a difficult position with only seven girls on the roster, including four seniors. “I’m working with a fresh team,” said girls head coach Katie Franklin. “We just rebuild and that’s what Dobson is about, taking the new ones and building them up for next year.”

Alongside being a coach, Franklin is a counselor at Dobson. She credits her work as a counselor to her success in coaching seniors and being able to overcome their departure. Their record doesn’t truly represent the success the girls have had this year, noting notable improvement in a young season.

20 of the 48 points for the Lady Mustangs came in the three relay events. The girl’s finished first in both the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relay and second in the 400 freestyle relay, respectively. In the 200 freestyle relay, the ladies pulled out the win with two-tenths of a second to spare.

Like the girls, the dive team also struggles with their numbers. In today’s meet, only three Mustangs were able to dive. With such a young team, head dive coach Morgan June has her divers master a dive in each group before competing in a meet.

In the dive well, Dobson senior boys Cale Jarvis and Briggs Wilmot swept the competition, winning first and second as they were the only divers actually competing. Freshman Alex Pusch finished in second place for the Dobson girls, 13 points behind the meet’s victor.

Dobson now looks ahead to next week’s home meet against the McClintock Chargers, a Division 2 program.