Four local high school swim squads competed in the CIF-SS Championships on Friday at Mt. San Antonio College.
Plenty of the local student-athletes shined throughout the day, led by a pair of CIF-SS Div. 3 relay titles from the Laguna Blanca Owls.
Laguna Blanca
The Owls’ boys squad earned a third-place finish in the Div. 3 championship and picked up a pair of freestyle relay championships.
“It’s mindblowing. Last year our boys team with 4 swimmers is CIF runner up in D4 and then got promoted to D3 for this year,” Laguna Blanca athletic director Matt Steinhaus said. “Even with the harder qualifying times, we somehow managed to actually outdo last year.
“I’m so proud of these guys and I can’t even quantify how exciting it was again this year when the points just kept compiling.”
Rio Valle, Bennett Sullivan, Eric Feng and Matthew Sullivan came together to finish in first place in both the 200 freestyle relay (1:26.89) and 400 freestyle relay (3:11.77).
“The 400 relay was crazy, especially the legs Bennett and Matthew swam, which basically gave us a margin that was too huge for the other schools’ anchors to overcome,” Steinhaus said. “Eric was going to hold that last leg down, even though every team in the heat had unbelievably fast guys on that 4th leg trying to chase him down.
“I’m so happy for this team. They’re great swimmers, but even more impressive, they’re super nice kids that really care about each other.”
Sullivan had a strong individual day as well, placing fourth in the 100 breaststroke (58.59) and fifth in the 200 IM (1:55.87).
Matthew Sullivan, Bennett’s younger brother, began his CIF career with a fifth-place finish in the 100 butterfly with a time of 52.16 seconds.
“The addition of Matthew this year made this all possible,” Steinhaus said. “He is on a special level as a frosh, and could end up the most decorated swimmer Laguna has ever had. That is saying a ton considering the amazing talent on both the boys and girls teams over the past seven years.”
Valle concluded his career with a seventh-place finish in the 100 freestyle (48.81) and a 14th-place mark in the 50 freestyle (22.32).
“No doubt Rio will be missed, so it was truly awesome to see him go out with the spectacular end of the meet today,” Steinhaus said. “With Rio off to college, it is great we have returning sophomore Jake Wyatt who will evolve and be a key guy to join the Sullivan boys and Eric to round out our relays next year.”
Feng also chipped in some points with 11th and 12th place finishes in the 50 freestyle (22.18) and 100 freestyle (49.24), respectively.
Dos Pueblos
The Charger girls finished the two-day meet with an eighth-place finish with just seven girls competing.
Dasha Dzreeva turned in a pair of strong races, finishing fourth in the 100 fly and ninth in the IM. Addison Parrish also had a solid day with an eighth-place finish in the 50 freestyle and 17th place in the 100 freestyle.
Megan Garner came in 11th in the 50 freestyle, while Riley Moore won the consolation final of the 100 backstroke.
Dzreeva, Garner, Moore, Dev Wigo, Hana Abel and Talia Marshall all contributed to the Dos Pueblos relay teams. The Chargers took third in the 400 freestyle relay, eighth in the 200 freestyle relay at 18th in the 200 medley relay.
Meanwhile, the Dos Pueblos boys team came in 15th place with six swimmers reaching the finals.
Liam Young capped off his high school career with an eighth-place finish and a personal record in the 100 backstroke.
Grant Nelson and Eli Carnaghe took home seventh place in the 100 fly and 50 freestyle, respectively.
The 200 freestyle relay team of Nelson, Carnaghe, Ben Fuhrer and Adam Gelman won the consolation final with a time of 1:29.22, which was the fourth-fastest time overall.
In the 400 freestyle relay, Young, Carnaghe, Nelson and Aricin Marshall combined to take 14th place.
San Marcos
The Royals’ boys team wrapped up its season with a 22nd-place showing at the Div. 2 CIF-SS Championship meet.
“In my first year of coaching the boys, I’m super proud of their commitment, dedication, improvement and newfound love for swimming,” San Marcos head coach Chuckie Roth said. “The kids really bought in, and I am so proud of them.”
Individually, Nolan Clark came in 14th place in the 100 fly at 52.74 seconds and finished in 17th place in the 200 freestyle at 1:47.87.
Meanwhile, Will Stuart (200 freestyle, 1:44.60, 9th), Christian Yonker (100 freestyle, 48.15, 13th) and Noah Warkentin (500 freestyle, 4:47.06, 15th) had strong days as well.
In the relays, Yonker, Clark, Stuart and Mateo Obando came in 12th place in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:14.06.
The 200 freestyle relay team of Yonker, Obando, Stuart and Jacob Angel tallied a 14th place finish in 1:29.57.
Finally, Warkentin, Clark, Obando and Duncan Hunt’s time of 1:41.01 was good for 19th place in the 200 medley relay.
The San Marcos girls will compete in the CIF-SS Div. 1 championship meet on Saturday.
Cate
The Cate girls squad placed fourth out of 80 teams for the best CIF-SS championship showing in program history on Friday.
The 400 freestyle relay team of Jen Won, Stella Rogers, Maddie Kollock and Emi Kanda-Gleeson led the way, placing second with a time of 3:44.23. The final mark was a school record time and the best CIF relay finish in program history.
In the 200 freestyle relay, Won, Kollock, Rogers and Makayla Niu broke their own team record from the prelims by placing fourth with a time of 1:42.43.
The 200 medley relay squad of Kanda-Gleeson, Rogers, Sofia Wang and Tori Kim rounded out a strong relay showing with an eighth-place finish and a school record time of 1:56.96.
Individually, Won placed fifth in the 100 butterfly and 11th in the 200 freestyle. Meanwhile, Kanda-Gleeson set a new school record and placed fourth in the 200 IM at 2:15.22 and came in sixth in the 100 backstroke.
“All seven girls swimming at the meet contributed key swims and points to the tremendous team showing,” Cate head coach Tobin White said.
On the boys side, the Rams came in 17th place out of 60 teams in the Div. 2 Championships.
Josiah Hansen placed sixth in the 100 butterfly and 11th in the 100 backstroke, breaking his own program record in the backstroke and slotting into second in school history in the butterfly.
Ben White (200 IM, 17th), Jae Wykoff (50 freestyle, 18th) and Phin Stephenson (100 breaststroke, 15th) turned in strong individual showings as well.
In the relays, the 200 medley team of White, Stephenson, Hansen and Joba Samson tied the school record with a time of 1:38.31 to place 12th overall.
Meanwhile, the 200 freestyle relay squad of Samson, Wykoff, Wil Rivera and Baye Breene set a new program record with a time of 1:28.37. They placed 11th as a team.
The 400 freestyle relay team of Hansen, Samson, Rivera and White added one final school record time, coming in 16th place with a time of 3:16.50.
“This was truly the best swim team in Cate history, in no small part thanks to seniors Baye Breene, Joba Samson, Stella Rogers, Phin Stephenson and Ben White, an inspiring, dedicated and decorated group of seniors who swam in their final high school meet yesterday and all will graduate as Cate record holders,” Tobin White said.
“The coaching staff could not be more proud of this group or more grateful for their leadership and contributions in helping to advance our program over the last four years. They leave big shoes to fill, and they will be missed.”
Santa Barbara High
Jules Horton led the way for the Dons, placing fourth in the 500 freestyle and fifth in the 200 freestyle. Her time in the 500 was the fourth-fastest in school history while her 200 performance was in the top 10.
The 200 freestyle relay team of Oliver Kelly, Lorenzo Russell, Calvin Nelley and Shane Davis improved their placing from 30th to 14th, with all four team members swimming lifetime bests.