The Bears swim team dominated the Aragon Dons and Mills Vikings at their tri-meet on Thursday afternoon. The varsity boys swim team beat the Dons 108-61 and won 110-33 against Mills. The girls prevailed 110-59 against Aragon and claimed a 132-29 victory over the Vikings.
The girls started off strong with freshman Hana Lai and seniors Addison Finn, Hailey Preuss, and Jocelyn Chang winning the 200-yard medley relay and capturing a CCS cut. Freshmen Kate Wong and Maddie Webb and seniors Elise Miller and Sarah Chang continued the run of success, taking bronze and another CCS cut. However, the boys fell short and placed third, only 0.22 seconds behind Aragon.
The Bears’ momentum continued as the girls swept the 200-yard individual freestyle, with junior Maya Earley, freshman Webb, and senior Miller achieving first, second, and third, respectively.
Preuss won the 200-yard individual medley for the girls with a CCS qualifying time of 2:07.17, over 11 seconds faster than the runner-up from Aragon.
Overall, members from both the boys and girls teams enjoyed the experience of the tri-meet and having multiple teams there.
“It’s the first tri-meet, and I feel like everything’s organized pretty well,” junior Harper Williams said.
“It was a very good opportunity for the team to get up and race people who are close to them in speed, due to the broadened variety of swimmers coming from it to other teams,” M. Powell said.
The boys excelled during the 200-yard individual medley, with junior Michael Powell coming in first place and beating the school record by over a second with a time of 1:54.69. Despite coming out 1.83 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, it was a tight race. “I was surprised at how fast the person next to me was going,” M. Powell said.
The previous record was a time of 1:55.99 and was last broken by John Scott in 1987.
“Before this swim season I had never really looked at that record in particular because I don’t really swim this event that often,” M. Powell said. “I realized how close I was to the record so I decided at the first meet that I was going to break it this season.”
Just after the adrenaline-filled individual medley, the boys experienced another competitive event: the 50-yard freestyle. Senior Jack Bullard claimed first place, beating the second-place swimmer by .83 seconds.
The girls also triumphed in the 50-yard freestyle, denying the Dons or Vikings a spot on the podium with Finn taking first, Lai in second, and J. Chang claiming third.
Despite no CCS qualifications coming from the girls 100-yard freestyle, M-A scored the top two times thanks to J. Chang and Wong.
“Everybody’s been cheering a lot, and there have been a lot of great performances,” junior Joseph Tompkins said. “I’ve noticed that all the other teams also have a fantastic spirit.”
The Bears continued to outperform in the 500-yard freestyle, with M. Powell winning and securing another CCS cut. Earley clinched first place for the girls with a time of 5:43.85.
Both M-A teams succeeded in the 200-yard freestyle relay, qualifying for CCS and winning the event. The teams consisted of Bullard, M. Powell, junior Alex Powell, and freshman Ryan Powell for the boys, and Finn, J. Chang, Wong, and Lai for the girls.
Bullard, M. Powell, A. Powell, and R. Powell continued their streak by winning the race and a CCS cut in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Preuss, Earley, Webb, and Wong matched this victory for the girls.
“The meet got us hyped up for our duel against Carlmont, and PALs and CCS. Our varsity boys relay saw great improvements at this meet and we are hoping to make States,” M. Powell said.
“We’re gonna show up. Keep showing up, keep putting in the work. We’re gonna swim fast. They’re gonna eat our bubbles. And that’s just how it’s gonna go,” Miller said.
The Bears’ next meet is against Hillsdale on Thursday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.
