Girls Win 9th League Title in a row, Boys get back on Track with a League Championship

The Palo Alto Viking Boys and Girls Swimming and Diving team went to Saratoga High School this week with one thing in mind, win the League Championship. For the girls the quest was to keep a streak alive. For the boys the idea was to get back on the winning track. They had won 5 in a row before they were upended last year, in a tough meet where a Disqualified relay cost the boys the chance to continue their streak.

The Lady Vikings swam a fantastic meet and extended their League Championship Title streak to 9 in a row. The meet began on Wednesday with the preliminary swims for the meet. Every Lady Viking came back to swim on the second day for finals. When it came time to score points and swim on Finals day the girls were ready to go. They got the meet off to a strong start with a victory in the 200 Medley Relay. Sabrina Lee, Laura Cui, Margaret Wenzlau and Jayna Wittenbrink led the entire way and coasted to victory in a time of 1:48.80. The girls then started off with a bang on the first two individual events. In the 200 Freestyle Jasmine Tosky won with a time 1:45.98 setting a record she herself set last year. Also helping in that event were Kimberly Hallsted placing 8th with a time of 2:00.64, Jayna Wittenbrink swam a great 2nd day race winning the consolation heat in a time of 1:58.62, and finishing in 10th was Rachelle Holmgren with a time of 2:00.55.

Sarah Liang then came back in the next event and took first place in the 200 IM with a time of 2:07.82. Molly Zebker placed 2nd with a time of 2:10.45 while Laura Cui placed 4th with a time of 2:16.51. Maddie Berger won the Consolation heat with a time of 2:20.29. In the 50 Freestyle Margaret Wenzlau paced the Vikings with a time of 24.79 placing 3rd while Jennifer Chang swam a season best time of 25.42. Also pitching in for valuable points were Alex Lin with an 11th place finish in a time of 26.63 and Kristina Xiang who placed 12th with a time of 26.77.

In a post earlier this week the diving was won by Gracie Greenwood. With Emma Miller taking 3rd and Sophomores Serena Yee and Nadya Nee placing 5th and 6th respectively.

Following the diving break the girls really got going with a 1,2,3 finish in the 100 Butterfly. Margaret Wenzlau paced the field winning with a time of 57.32. Jayna Wittenbrink came in second with a time of 58.69 and Molly Zebker placed 3rd with a time of 58.85. Helping to show Paly's strength in this event Paige Deving placed 5th with a time of 1:02.57. In the 100 Freestyle Sabrina Lee paced the Vikings by placing 5th with a time of 53.20. Jennifer Chang continued her strong swimming for the day with a 6th place time of 55.60. Anna Glaves placed 8th with a time of 56.85. Kristina Xiang placed tenth with a strong swim of 58.04.

In the 500 Freestyle the girls were well represented and had some great swims. Jasmine Tosky came within .19 seconds of setting a second record for the day. She swam a time of 4:46.18. This time was only 3 seconds off her record setting performance in the same event at CCS two years ago. Kimberley Hallsted placed 3rd as she continued her fine swimming with a time of 5:17.47 and Rachelle Holmgren placed a strong 5th with a time of 5:23.68. Caroline Moeser pitched in with a fine effort and placed 12th with a time of 5:38.82.

The 200 Freestyle Relay was an exciting race!! Sarah Liang, Jennifer Chang, Molly Zebker and Tosky swam to victory with a time of 1:38.74. Gunn put in a strong effort and lead going into the last swimmer. But Tosky erased any hopes of an upset as she gained valuable distance on her dive and passed the lead swimmer and brought home the victory for the Vikings.

Sabrina Lee paced the Backstrokers with a victory time of 57.54. She swam a strong race and led from start to finish. Megan Okada placed 6th with a time of 1:02.96 and Paige Devine came in 8th with a time of 1:03.51. Helping to round out the event Skylar Dorosin placed 13th with a time of 1:05.73. Leading the way for the girls in the 100 Breaststroke was Laura Cui who placed 3rd with her best time of the year at 1:08.15. Also placing in the top 8 and swimming strong were Maddie Berger with a time of 1:12.17 and Karina Goot with a time of 1:13.33.

While by the time of the 400 Freestyle Relay came around the girls were well in front, they showed the strength and pride that is Palo Alto swimming with probably one of the most exciting races of the day. Sarah Liang, Margaret Wenzlau, Sabrina Lee and Jasmine Tosky fought a great battle and came from behind to beat Gunn for the Victory and a sweep of the Relays. With Gunn's two best swimmers leading off the relay the Vikings found themselves almost a pool length behind going into the 3rd swimmer. Sabrina Lee began the process of the comeback by reeling in the other 3rd swimmer. She made up 1.5 seconds and brought the lead team within striking distance for the anchor swimmer. Gaining valuable ground on the start alone Tosky took off and began to chase down Gunn's last swimmer. Making up valuable ground with her swimming and each turn, Tosky finally caught the lead swimmer and passed her with still a 12 yards to go. It was a great win and showed how strong and focused the girls were on capturing their 9th Title in a row!!!!

The boys had a bit of a tougher go of it. But when all was said and done, they swam how they needed to and brought home a League Championship they feel they never should have let go of. The meets tone was set right away in the first event for the boys. The Medley Relay was separated by just 4/100's of a second. William Lee, Byron Sanborn, DJ Fotsch and Andrew Liang put up a valiant fight and just came up short placing 2nd with a time of 1:37.39.

In the next event the boys were paced by Andrew Liang who swam to a second place finish in a strong time of 1:43.38. Placing 5th was Eren Kiris with a time of 1:48.69 and also scoring in the top 8 with a 7th place finish was Corso Rosati who swam a time of 1:51.34. Pitching in with a strong effort and very helpful points was Ken Wattana with a time of 1:52.09. For the IM Byron Sanborn swam a strong race and placed first with a time of 1:53.05. Another great swim was William Lee who placed 3rd with a time of 1:56.96. Charles Zhang dropped great time as he won the consolation heat in a time of 2:02.85. Other valuable points were pitched in by Xavier Mignot as he swam to 14th place swimming a time of 2:10.13. In the 50 Freestyle, Arseny Kotov placed 4th with a time of 22.41. Also pitching in were DJ Fotsch with a 14th place finish and a time of 23.64 and Youngkuk Lee with a 15th place finish and a time of 23.76.

Cole Plambeck won the diving while Jordan Zenger placed 2nd. Helping to give the Vikings valuable diving points were Alex Francis who placed 6th and Noam Hurwitz who placed 8th.

In the 100 Butterfly the boys were paced by Corso Rosati who swam a 55.00 time and placed 4th. DJ Fotsch placed 10th with a time of 56.00 and Bret Pinsker placed 13th with a time of 57.76. In the 100 Freestyle Rollin Lau swam a great time of 50.10 while placing 6th. Ken Wattana again swimming strong placed 14th with a time of 51.55. In the 500 Andrew Liang placed 3rd with a sizzling 4:43.68, while Connor Fotsch placed 16th with a time of 5:13.35.

The boys 200 Freestyle Relay placed 3rd. Arseny Kotov, DJ Fotsch, Rollin Lau and William Lee swam a time of 1:30.10. The swim was their best time of the year and was anchored by Lee's fast split of 21.72.

In the 100 Backstroke Lee kept up his strong swimming with a time of 52.23. Alex Francis kept the back end strength of the meet going for the Vikings with a 4th place finish in 56.02. Eren Kiris placed 6th in a time of 56.21 and Arseny Kotov won the consolation heat with a 9th place finish in a time of 57.06. Probably the most exciting individual race of the day was saved for the last won. Byron Sanborn trailing in the first 3 laps finally caught the lead swimmer and passed him with only a few yards to go winning in a time of 58.39. Charles Zhang won the Consolation heat in a personal best time of 1:02.90. Rollin Lau swam a strong 1:03.48 to place 11th and Xavier Mignot improved on his personal best from the previous day by swimming a time of 1:04.24 and placing 3rd.

Heading into the final relay and final swim of the day the boys knew they had the meet sewed up. But they still put their best swim of the year together and came within a whisker of winning getting second place by a total of 3/10th's of a second. Eren Kiris, Arseny Kotov, Andrew Liang and Byron Sanborn all swam hard and great times as they finished off the day in style with some excitement. It was a great day for the boys as they took back their League Championship from defending champions Monta Vista. With a young team the Vikings are hoping to begin another streak to add to their league title total.

Now the focus turns to CCS where the girls focus will be to finally pass Mitty and take the CCS Championship while the boys are hoping to move up from their 6th place finish and place in the top 3. Come on out and support your Vikings on what will be an exciting day and a day that could create History!!!!

Paly Divers start of League Championship week with a bang!!!

The diving portion of the SCVAL League Championship Swimming Week got off to a great start for the Vikings. Gracie Greenwood and Cole Plambeck, for the second year in a row, brought home first place for Palo Alto. All 4 of the divers for both the boys and girls finished in the top 8 to give valuable points to the Palo Alto Swimming teams as they now prepare for the swimming portion of the meet.

Gracie Greenwood first place score was 424.60. She did an awesome job. She has been working on higher DD and getting ready for her senior year at CCS, she is looking good and is going to compete with the other top 3 girls. Emma Miller for Paly got 3rd with 339.85. She has improved from her level of a point getter at CCS last year and should do even better this year. Our two sophomores did quite well. Serena Yee got 6th with 289.35, and Nadya Nee got 283.65 and got 7th. Both of them have been working on new dives and have time to improve and could sneak in to the top 16 at CCS. The Varsity Girls did really well!!

For the boys it was a boost to get the scores we did and help with points in what is going to be a tight and exciting League meet. Cole Plambeck won with a score of 456.95. He did a great job and has improved quite a bit from his great freshman year. His score was a little better than last year at CCS but he to is working on new dives and hoping to score even higher. Jordan Zenger gave the team a big boost by getting second. His score of 353.40 was better than his score at CCS last year and he should be able to get top 8. Alex Francis helped out with a 6th place finish with a score of 276.10. Also better than his score at CCS and he should be able to improve on his finish at CCS from last year. Newcomer, even though he is a sophomore, was Noam Hurwitz. He got 8th place and with a little more seasoning will be a strong CCS point getter candidate for next year.

For the JV Girls 3 Freshman helped out the team with a strong finish of 4th, 5th and 6th. Emily Willick, new to the sport showed great improvement by scoring 176.05 in the 8 dive competition while finishing 4th. Tara Lawrence finished 5th with a score of 174.25. Phoebe So rounded out the day for the JV Lady Vikes with a score of 153.00. These young divers showed great poise and the future looks bright for the girls diving team.

For the JV boys. Newcomers to the sport Jonathan Kosaka and Alex Hammer helped their team with 2nd and 4th place finishes. Kosaka score 166.30 in the 8 dive competition for 2nd place. He has grown quite a bit and will be contributing for a while to the program. Alex Hammer, battling the flu, toughed it out and placed 4th with a score of 126.75. He to will be helping the Vikings in the near future with his diving abilities.

The divers got the Vikings off to a great start for League Week. The swimming contingent of the team is proud and thankful for their efforts and contributions. The week continues tomorrow with the girls prelims, and on Thursday with the boys prelims. Finals for both boys and girls are on Friday. Swimming starts at 2 pm and is being held at the Saratoga Aquatic Facility at Saratoga High School. Come out and cheer on your Vikings as the look to sweep the League Championships for all 4 divisions.