For many years, the high school swimming season has ended at the Central Coast Section championships. Many years? Make that forever.
This year, though, things are very different.
At the CCS swimming and diving finals held at the Santa Clara International Swim Center, Cupertino’s girls team and Monta Vista’s boys squad both turned in strong performances that resulted in several of their standouts earning invitations to the first ever California State High School Swimming Championships May 22-23 at Clovis West High School in Fresno, along with some All-American recognition.
Behind stellar efforts by junior Ivy Chen and sophomores Jenny Ma, Avalon Schultz and Anna Rajaratnam, the young Cupertino girls swimming and diving team finished a strong third in the team standings with 184 points behind champion Archbishop Mitty (250) and runner-up Palo Alto (222).
Chen, Ma, Schultz and Rajaratnam joined forces to win the opening 200 medley relay in 1:44.77, better than a second faster that their first place time in the preliminaries. The time not only earned the quartet a trip to the state meet, but it also qualified them for All-American honors.
Ma, Chen and Rajaratnam later teamed up with freshman Kristen Tria to finish fifth in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:37.87, which qualified them for state.
Schultz captured a fourth in the 200 individual medley in 2:03.67, and Chen came in sixth in the 100 backstroke in 57.03 to both earn individual berths at state.
Homestead sophomore Caitlyn Koo placed fourth in the 100 free in 51.83, and the Monta Vista 200 medley relay team of seniors Christina Cheng and Sayeh Faridnia and juniors Nanette Wu and Christine Chan took eighth in the 200 medley relay in 1:47.82 to also qualify for state. The Matadors’ relay time was worthy of All-American consideration.
Also contributing point-earning finishes for Cupertino at CCS were Ma, who nabbed a fifth in the 200 IM in 2:05.33; Rajaratnam, fifth in the 50 free in 2:43.2; Chen, 11th in the 200 IM in 2:07.70; Tria, 10th in the 50 free in 24.57 and 12th in 200 free in 1:54.37; sophomore Rucha Patki, 14th in diving with 368.70 points; and the 400 free relay team of Schultz, Tria, Karina Lanning and Erica Tzeng, 13th in 3:42.27.
Monta Vista, which finished 10th in the team standings with 89 points, received scoring performances from the 400 free relay team of Faridnia, Chan, Cheng and junior Michelle Hsieh, who combined to take sixth in 3:36.33; junior Nanette Wu, who captured a 10th in the 100 back in 58.83; Faridnia, 10th in the 100 butterfly in 57.65 and 13th in the 200 free in 1:54.70; Cheng, 13th in the 200 IM in 2:08.55; freshman Demetra Williams, 13th in diving with 371.30 points; and the 200 free relay foursome of Hsieh, freshmen Alia Johnson and Marissa Chan, and junior Sara Ye, 15th in 1:40.67.
Homestead, which came in 20th with 41 team points, was led by the relay team of senior Hayley Bergman, freshman Eugenia Lee, sophomore Claire Wynne and Koo, who finished 12th in the 200 free relay in 1:40.05 and 12th in the 400 free relay in 3:41.99; Bergman, 13th in the 50 free in 24.90; and Koo, 15th in the 100 fly in 58.68.
Lindsey Miller bagged a ninth in the 200 IM in 2:07.39, an 11th in the 100 fly in 58.35 and joined forces with Cora Chan, Priscilla Min and Samantha Yramategui to come in 16th in the 400 free relay in 3:43.30, leading King’s Academy to a team 24th with 17 points.
Fremont came in 30th in the 38-team field with six points, thanks to freshman Keller Sydney’s 11th place effort in the 500 free in 5:06.42.
Lynbrook, meanwhile, ended up tied for last with Notre Dame of Belmont, receiving its only two team points from senior Taylor Basin, who took 15th in the 1-meter dive with 360.90 points.
In the boys division, Monta Vista accumulated 150 points to nab a team sixth behind Bellarmine (292), Gunn (214), Palo Alto (210), St. Ignatius (158) and St. Francis (153).
Sparked by junior standout Lucca Martins, the Matadors qualified for state in five events.
Martins was involved in four of the state qualifying performances for Monta Vista, two individually and two as part of Matador relay teams. Martins raced to a third in the 100 back in 49.71 and a fourth in 200 IM in 1:49.76, and hooked up with Keven Shang, Jarold Olay and Felix Chiun to take second in the 200 medley relay in 1:33.54 and fourth in the 400 free relay in 3:10.68. The Matador junior earned All-American status in both the back and the IM, as did both relay units.
Shang, meanwhile, earned All-American consideration and a trip to the state meet by capturing a third in the 100 breaststroke in 57.19.
Others contributing points to the Monta Vista team effort were Chiun, who took 10th in the 50 free in 21.86 and 11th in the 100 free in 47.22; Olay, sixth in the 100 fly in 51.03; sophomore Nikhil Kundu, 12th in the 100 back in 53.21; junior Mark Gorelik, 15th in the 500 free in 4:47.22; and the 200 free relay team of Steve Yang, Jason Loo, Evan Zhang and Tommy Chen, 16th in 1:34.17.
Although they finished 35th out of 41 teams, the Fremont Firebirds will be sending freshman David Noyes to the state finals after he copped a sixth in the 200 IM in 1:53.07.
Homestead came in 24th with 28 team points, thanks to junior Houfu Yan, who took seventh in the 100 back in 52.04; the relay team of junior Davis Horeff, seniors Kyle Lawrence and Zachary Fitzpatrick and sophomore Corbin Jee, 11th in the 200 free relay in 1:30.15; and divers Dalton Miner and Bryce Leone, who finished 14th and 16th, respectively, with scores of 295.20 and 250.45.
Lynbrook was just behind Homestead in 26th place with 25 points after sophomore Bradley Chen collected an eighth in the 500 free in 4:47.42.