After suffering a loss at their last PAL meet, the boys swim team rebounded with a 116-54 victory over the Aragon Dons. The girls swim team maintained their winning streak, scoring 109 points to the Dons’ 61 on Friday afternoon.
“Aragon outnumbered us, especially at the varsity level, so we all knew that whether you thought you would win the race or you’d get fifth place, everybody was fighting for all the points on the board,” junior Jack Bullard said.
Early on, juniors Addison Finn and Hailey Preuss, sophomore Maya Earley, and senior Natalie Scafetta set the tone with a dominant performance in the 200-yard medley relay. They finished with an impressive time of 1:53:58 to pick up the first CCS cut of the meet.
For the boys, sophomores Michael Powell and Chan Na, senior Justus Howell, and Bullardfollowed with a strong 1:46.34 in the 200-yard medley relay, which Na closed with an impressive 24.38-second split. However, their time narrowly missed the CCS qualifying standard of 1:45.99.
In the individual 200-yard freestyle, the girls swept the podium with Finn finishing in first. The boys, however, could not do the same, with Bullard coming in second.
Shortly after, the girls swept the podium once again led by an incredible performance from Preuss who finished with a time of 2:12.00, picking up a CCS cut, and followed by Earley and senior Quinne Davis.
“The girls especially did really, really well. We were super locked in and made sure we were scoring points and placing pretty well in races,” Finn said.
Sophomore Alex Powell secured a 2:06.20 victory in the boys 200-yard IM, trailed by senior Armin Loftman who came in third.
In a nail-biting finish, Finn tied with the Dons for first in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 26.19. For the boys, senior Adrian Kunze Briseno also pulled out a close win, holding off Howell by 0.55 seconds.
For the third time that day, the girls dominated the podium—this time in the 100-yard freestyle—with Scafetta fending off competitors after a speedy first split of 27.23 seconds. Immediately after, the boys handily continued the podium-sweeping streak with Bullard’s powerful performance leading the way.
“We saw a lot of improvements, a lot of personal bests, and a lot of cheering,” Bullard said.
The girls returned to the relay stage with juniors Sarah Chang, Preuss, Jocelyn Chang, and Finn racing an incredible 1:45.00 in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The groups managed almost perfectly even splits on their way to attaining yet another CCS cut.
The boys’ relay, including sophomore Leonard Kabakov Isakova, Kunze Briseno, Powell, and Bullard, followed closely with a 1:37.06 victory but fell just short of the CCS cut.
In the girls’ 100-yard backstroke, the Dons came back and knocked the Bears from first, with Earley’s time of 1:07.90 finishing just second. The boys, however, found more success in this event, led by Powell’s remarkable 56.27 performance, adding yet another CCS cut to the teams’ collection.
Unfortunately, the girls continued to struggle against the Dons’ last-minute surge, with Jocelyn finishing third in the 100-yard breaststroke. In the same event, the boys stumbled against the Dons’ momentum, with Alex coming in second.
Still, the Bears were able to end the meet on a high note, with both the girls and boys 400-yard relays picking up CCS cuts. The girls, including junior Siboney Lynch, Earley, Sarah, and Scafetta dominated the competition, finishing with a 17.32-second gap to the Dons in second place. Also with a large lead over the Dons, Howell, Kunze Briseno, Alex, and Michael blew the CCS standard of 3:31.99 out of the water with an impressive time of 3:23.13.
“This meet was more competitive for us than our previous meets since we had been going against really small teams. This was our first meet where we really had to work for it and I think the fact that we beat them by so much was just amazing,” Finn said.
“We’ve all been really consistent, winning by a decisive amount and winning with authority,” Bullard added.
The Bears will head to Carlmont High School to take on the Scots this Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
