Phoenix Country Day School finished the Eagle Invitational in 3rd place overall with a total of 154 points at the PCDS Aquatic Center on Saturday.

Thirty-one schools participated in the event.

In their division, both the boys and girls teams won first place. The boys scored a total of 132 points with the girls scoring 22 points.

The Eagles were proud of their performances. 

 “Everyone has been dropping times and swimming their best. So we did pretty good for a small school,” said senior Sonnet Richmond.

Individually, the swimmers were mentally aware of how they might perform better in the future.

“I made the time I needed but I messed up the turn so I could have been faster,” said senior Henri J. Richardson, who swam in the 100-meter medley.

Coach Mike Maczuga pointed out the speed of the meet at the Eagle Invitational with powerful schools like Chaparral and Brophy participating.

Chaparral finished first with 320 points followed by Brophy with 188.5 points. Phoenix Country Day's coach was happy with how his swimmers competed against the bigger schools. 

“It’s been really fun because a lot of them made their cut times for state. You can just see the pieces falling together,” Maczuga said. “You can see the competition starting to build up. It makes it kind of fun and exciting.” 

“You’re mentally and physically hyping yourself up for the race. It’s just all about perseverance," said senior Max Lerner. "When you’re on that final 25 in 100-meter free, you just have to keep on pushing no matter how much it hurts."

The Eagles' next meet will be on Tuesday when they host Chandler Preparatory Academy.