John Heaphy
For Arizona State University’s John Heaphy of Eagle River and University of Arizona’s Tavner Wisdom of Anchorage, the 100-yard breaststroke B final at the Pac-12 Championships was personal.
The rivalry between Alaska swimmers in the event dates back several years, including a finals faceoff at the 2018 state championships when they finished first-second at Bartlett High School.
The Pac-12 Championships held over the weekend in Federal Way, Wash., represented maybe their final head-to-head meeting.
Heaphy, a senior out of Eagle River High, has held the upper hand in the showdown but Wisdom, a sophomore out of Service High, has closed the gap significantly.
In 2018, Heaphy’s winning margin was 2.6 seconds.
At the 2023 Pac-12 Championships, it was 2.1 seconds.
Last month, Wisdom inched within 0.97.
And on Saturday, he nearly got there but Heaphy prevailed by 0.22 seconds.
Tavner Wisdom
Heaphy won the B final in 52.34 to help the Sun Devils repeat as Pac-12 champions while Wisdom was third in 52.56.
Heaphy’s ninth-place finish was an improvement from last year when he was 12th to help Arizona State win its first conference title. He also swam the 50 free at this year’s Pac-12 Championships and posted a qualifying time of 20.46, which was .26 seconds faster than his seed time.
In last month’s regular-season finale against nationally ranked Arizona, Heaphy won the 200 medley relay and placed third in the 100 breast. In that race, Wisdom was fifth.
In 2018, Heaphy won his first state in the 100 breast after experiencing heartbreak the previous year when he got out-touched at the wall. He came back to post a dominating victory as a senior in 56.76, with Wisdom second in 59.37.
Wisdom came back to win state titles in 2019 and 2020. Now he’s at Arizona. In addition to his 11th-place finish in the 100 breast, Wisdom also swam the 200 individual medley at the Pac-12 Championships and sliced .21 seconds off his 1:48.66 seed time.