SAN JOSE – On a rainy day that was hardly conducive to optimal individual performance, depth that translated into team championships was the defining feature of the Central Coast Section Swimming and Diving Championships at Independence High.
Before Saturday's final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, Gunn (boys) and St. Ignatius (girls) had already won team titles. And because the icing on the cake, everyone took first place of their respective relays.
Gunn scored 258.5 points, topping crosstown rival and two-time defending champion Palo Alto (194). And the Titans did it without a person title list but with overwhelming depth.
“The boys were third two years ago, second last year and this year they started with championship ambitions,” said Gunn coach Dustin Fukuda. “They worked really hard. A really nice group of kids who really supported each other.”
St. Ignatius, which scored 257 points to 194 for runner-up Palo Alto, had a person winner in Caitlin Quill within the 100 backstroke, but won each the 400 free and 200 medley relays to earn the third consecutive girls CCS team title.
“It was led by our senior class,” St. Ignatius coach John Dahlz said. “It was the best senior class in history. These girls led the way.”
Saratoga sophomore Kelsey Zhang broke a CCS record by winning the 200 individual medley but was later disqualified, a call that two veteran opposing coaches decried as unfair. Undeterred, Zhang got here back and convincingly won her favorite event, the 100-meter butterfly, in 52.14 minutes.
She was asked what goals she had for the remaining of the season, time goals or location goals?
“Honestly, just to have fun,” she said. “I would like to have a good time and place, but just to have fun with my team.”
Among the most effective individual performances of the meet were Archbishop Mitty freshman Shareef Elaydi, who won the 200 IM (1:47.80) and the 100 fly (48.06) and earned first place for the 200 medley relay team.
Woodside junior Seth Collet was a double winner within the 100-meter backstroke (48.86) and 200-meter free (1:37.65).
Mountain View junior sprinter Dar Lavrenko, a Cal commit, won the 50 free (20.37) and the 100 free (44.53).
Castilleja senior Olivia Detter of Northwestern dominated the women' sprints, winning the 50 free (23.36) and the 100 free relay (50.47) and was the highest 200 free relay team , who took first place with a time of 1:35.63.
Two freshmen won the longest race of the day, the 500-meter race: Menlo-Atherton's Michael Powell within the boys' race and Leigh's Malia Groen in the women' race.
After posting the second-best time in Thursday's heats, Powell finished strong, coming from behind to win in 4:30.09.
“I didn’t really know I was going to win,” Powell said. “I thought back to my training and tried to convince myself to push harder. I thought, “Just 30 more seconds of pain and then so much happiness.”
Groen touched the wall in 4:55.09, ending ahead of MA's Hailey Preuss and Palo Alto's Liew Ladomirak, who previously won the 200 free. Groen also went into the ultimate with the second fastest mark within the heats, but lost her time by three seconds in the ultimate.
“I’m really happy about it, I’m really proud of myself,” Groen said. “I listened to my coach and had a race plan for the first time. I kept up with the team in the first half and did my best to pull away in the second half. And it somehow worked out.”
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