CIF Central Coast Section 2016 Championship Prelim Recap

2016 CALIFORNIA INTERSCHOLASTIC FEDERATION CENTRAL COAST SECTION SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Dates: Friday, May 13, 2016-Saturday, May 14, 2016
• Location: Santa Clara International Swim Center
• Defending Champions: Girls – Archbishop Mitty (2015 results); Boys – Bellarmine (2015 results)
• Live Results: Available
• Championship Central
• Participant Information Bulletin

Girls Meet

Opening strong in the 200 Medley Relay, Cupertino High School posted the top time in prelims by over a half second with a time of 1:44.68. Backstroker Ivy Chen (27.47) led off strong followed by Jenny Ma (28.47), Avalon Schultz (25.36), and Anna Rajaratnam (23.38). Seeded second going into finals is Palo Alto’s Zoe Lusk, Grace Zhao, Katie Francis, and Peyton Wang. Mountain View finished a far third behind Palo Alto.

In the 200 Freestyle, top-seeded Lauren Green from Pioneer finished with the top time of the day (1:48.68), almost a full second ahead of Archbishop Mitty’s Cathy Teng (1:49.67). Teng and Green were the only swimmers below the 1:50-mark. Coming in with a time of 1:50.95, Mountain View’s Vicky Wong is seeded third going into finals tomorrow. In the 200 IM, Chloe Isleta, Palo Alto, posted the top time of 1:59.02, almost 3 seconds ahead of 2015 CCS Champion in the event, Harker’s Vivian Wang (2:01.83). Castilleja’s Natalie Tuck finished third (2:03.26) and Sacred Heart Prep’s Kayla Holman finished fourth (2:04.45). Isleta has a commanding lead over Wang going into finals tomorrow, but certainly don’t count out the 2015 champion to put pressure on Isleta for the win. Menlo-Atherton’s Izzi Henig posted the top time in the 50 free, a quick 22.86, half a second ahead of 2015 CCS Champion, Palo Alto’s Grace Zhao (23.46). Third seed Brooke Schaffer (23.56) and fourth seed Claire Lin (23.95) were the only other finishers under 24 in prelims.

Pioneer’s Lauren Green (53.71) and Santa Clara’s Sophie Krivokapiv-Zhou (53.80) finished 1-2 in prelims this afternoon in the 100 Butterfly, setting up what will likely be a thrilling race tomorrow in finals. Green and Krivokapiv-Zhou finished almost 2 seconds ahead of the rest of the field, led by third place finisher Han Nguyen of Los Gatos (55.15). In the 100 Freestyle, Izzi Henig posted the top time of 49.52, with a commanding lead ahead of Schaffer (51.18) and Wang (51.36). Mitty’s Teng (4:55.47) and Castilleja’s Tuck (4:56.75) will face off for 1st place tomorrow as the only two finishers in prelims under 5:00. Sacred Heart Prep’s Kathryn Bower finished third with a time of 5:00.91.

In the 200 Freestyle Relay, Sacred Heart Prep’s team of Matte Snow (24.59), Gaby Ma (24.36), Bower (24.37), and Holman (23.57) finished with the top time in prelims of 1:36.89. Palo Alto finished second (1:36.89) and Menlo-Atherton finished third (1:37.32).

In the 100 Backstroke, Presentation’s Isleta finished with the top time of 53.75 ahead of Santa Clara’s Krivokapic-Zhou (54.25). Both were far ahead of the rest of the preliminary times with Wong from Mountain View finishing third in a time of 56.45. Palo Alto’s Zhao finished over a full second ahead of the rest of the field in the 100 Breaststroke with a time of 1:01.73. Cupertino’s Ma finished second with a time of 1:03.21 and Saratoga’s Stephanie Ting finished third with a time of 1:03.82.

Finishing out the girls meet, Menlo-Atherton finished with the top time in prelims in the 400 Freestyle Relay. The team of Haley Arrington (53.70), Sophie Murff (53.88), Kate Denend (53.23), and Henig (49.89) finished with a time of 3:30.70. The team from Saint Francis finished second (3:31.42) and Gunn finished third (3:31.72). The three top teams will certainly challenge each other for the top spot in finals tomorrow.

Many teams, including defending champion Archbishop Mitty had a strong showing in prelims today at CIF-CCS Championships. Palo Alto posted many top times in prelims and could challenge Archbishop Mitty if they show similar success tomorrow in finals.

Boys Meet

On the boy’s side, Monta Vista and Saint Francis tied in prelims in the 200 Medley Relay with a time of 1:34.62, setting up what will likely be a show down tomorrow in finals. Saint Francis pulled out to a commanding lead with Ben Ho (23.18), and finished strong with Andreas Nybo (26.54), Kyle Swardenski (23.53), and Julian Elmurib (21.37). Monta Vista’s team of Nikhil Kundu (24.08), Keven Shang (25.77), Lucca Martins (23.29), and Felix Chiun (21.48) caught Saint Francis in the breaststroke and put the pressure on for the rest of the race. Finishing close behind was Palo Alto in 3rd (1:35.01) and Gunn in 4th (1:35.79).

2015 CCS Champion Sheldon Boboff finished with the top time in the 200 Freestyle (1:37.32), over a second ahead of Palo Alto’s Alex Liang (1:38.60), second seed going into finals. The top three is rounded out by Gunn’s Michael Lincoln (1:38.93), who made an impressive five second time drop from his seed time. In the 200 IM, defending champion Xiangfei Xie from Saratoga finished prelims with the top time of 1:49.23, followed closely by second seed Henry Blaul of the York School (1:49.93) and Woodside’s Karl Arvidsson (1:50.14). In the 50 free, defending champion Albert Gwo of Los Altos finished far ahead of the rest of the field and will be chasing the CCS record of 19.81 in finals tomorrow. Gunn’s Joao Ama (20.81), Saint Francis’s Ben Ho (20.86), and Bellarmine’s Thomas Reed (20.88) all finished closely together behind Gwo in the 50 free.

In the 100 Butterfly, Xie finished in a commanding lead with a time of 48.43, ahead of Valley Christian’s Matthew Thomas (49.14) and Gunn’s Diachi Matsuda (49.14). Gwo is also seeded at the top in the 100 free with a time of 44.40, but his time was closely challenged by Christopher Staka (44.53). Sheldon Boboff (45.18) and Ama (45.19) finished third and fourth in prelims of the 100 free. The 500 Freestyle will be a close race tomorrow in finals with Liang (4:29.97), Lincoln (4:30.28), and Jarod Hatch (4.31.04) all finishing within almost a second of each other.

Following the lead of Monta Vista and Saint Francis in the 200 Medley, Bellarmine and Gunn tied for the top seed in the 200 Freestyle Relay. Bellarmine’s Nathan Yates (21.16), Ryan Lewis (21.74), Oli Holt (22.16), and Reed (20.25) finished with a time of 1:25.31, same as the Gunn team of Trent Tosky (21.48), Ama (20.68), Lincoln (20.96), and Calder Hilde-Jones (22.19).

In the 100 Backstroke, expect a close race tomorrow between Ho (48.35) and Straka (48.44) after finishing within a tenth of each other in prelims. Finishing third, almost 2 seconds behind the leaders, was Andrew Cho from Palo Alto with a time of 50.57. In the 100 Breaststroke, Woodside’s Karl Arvidsson finished almost a second ahead of the rest of the field with a time of 54.97 after dropping over 3 seconds from his seed time. York’s Henry Blaul finished 2nd in prelims with a time of 55.61 and Gunn’s Max Pokutta finished third with a time of 56.75.

Finishing up the prelims session, the Bellarmine team of Yates (46.32), Lewis (47.45), Holt (47.61), and Reed (44.66) finished with the top time in the 400 Freestyle Relay with a time of 3:06.04. Gunn finished in second two-tenths behind Bellarmine (3:06.24) and St. Ignatius finished third (3:07.42).

Bellarmine will be looking for another CCS win this year and to continue their winning streak. The Gunn boys looked strong in prelims and, if they can beat Bellarmine in the two free relays, they stand a shot of winning CIF-CCS Championships this year.