Two Henderson swimmers to attend national camps

Two swimmers with Henderson-based BlueFin Aquatics were named to prestigious USA Swimming camps, which they will attend this summer.

Morgan Brophy, a freshman at Coronado, is one of 56 swimmers set to take part in the Western Zone Select Camp from May 31-June 3 at Arizona State University.

Andrew Navarro, a Green Valley freshman, is one of 48 set to compete in the National Diversity Select Camp from May 3-6 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

“USA Swimming as an organization is part of the United States Olympic Committee, and so they direct funding and support back down to the grassroots level to try to develop the next Olympians,” BlueFin Aquatics coach Bob Hommel said.

Brophy, who began swimming about 10 years ago, said she was excited for the opportunity and grateful for the support of her team.

She specializes in the individual medley and butterfly and hopes to continue swimming through college and compete at the Olympic trials.

“I’m just expecting to get a fun learning experience out of it to be able to continue on my path to working up to the next level,” Brophy said.

Brophy and Navarro earned their spots at the camp based on their times from the 2017 qualifying period.

“Both camps, they bring in people to speak to the athletes about various aspects of the sport, and they also train them in the water,” Hommel said.

For Navarro’s camp, a coach is also invited. This will be his third time traveling to Colorado Springs with a swimmer.

Hommel, who said he has been coaching Brophy and Navarro for about five years, said they are among the top swimmers at BlueFin.

“They just are in the process of turning 15, and so the next step is to try to make it to Junior Nationals and then Olympic trials …” he said.

Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.