Carlos Lattanzi swims the backstroke leg of an individual medley during Sedona Red Rock High School’s season in the fall. Lattanzi recently competed at the AZSI Short Course Senior Classic Championship. He placed in four events, including the 400 IM, where his 4:03.78 time was good enough for fifth place and 31st in his age group nationwide. Photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers

Sedona Red Rock High School sophomore Carlos Lattanzi was in the water at Chandler High School at the AZSI Short Course Senior Classic Championship.

Lattanzi swam in five events — the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke, the 500-yard freestyle and the 200- and 400-yard individual medley. Across the board, he exceeded his expectations.

“I did better than I expected, much better,” Lattanzi said. “I am happy with all of my times.”

Lattanzi went in 1:00.36 in the 100 breaststroke and 2:09.54 in the 200 breaststroke to finish 24th and 18th, respectively. He posted a 4:41.25 in the 500 freestyle, which was good enough for 14th.

Lattanzi’s top two finishes came in the IMs. His 1:56.49 in the 200 IM was good enough for 13th place while the time of 4:03.78 in the 400 IM was good enough for not only fifth place in the event but No. 31 in the nation for his age group. Lattanzi was 15 at the time of the meet but turned 16 on March 16.

Next up for Lattanzi is the Speedo Sectionals, which will be held at Phoenix Country Day School from Friday, March 19, through Monday, March 22. While Lattanzi is qualified for nine events there, he’ll be swimming in four — the 100- and 500-yard freestyle and the 200- and 400-yard IM.

“My goal there is to get more futures cuts,” he said. “And possibly Junior Nationals in the 400 IM.”

The Junior Nationals time in the 400 IM is 3:59.09 or better. That would be a significant drop from the 4:03.78 that he posted, which was a personal record. It’s worth noting, though, that the PR he set there was 5.4 seconds faster than his previous best.

Lattanzi was a two-time state champion for the SRRHS team during the season in the fall. He anchored the victorious 200 freestyle relay behind seniors Eric Schrader, Cody Brefeld and Andrew Tate and also touched first in the 200 IM.

Michael Dixon

Michael was born and raised in Northern California. After living there for all of his life, he moved to Northern Arizona in summer, 2019. He has more than a decade's experience covering sports for his hometown paper in California as well as writing for Bleacher Report and Sportsnaut.com. Always feel free to let Michael know about things that you and your family and friends are doing in sports.

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