Vikings conclude season, look towards 2011

The 2010 Swimming and Diving season has finished and as always the young Vikings have every reason to hold their heads high and be proud of their efforts. Both the boys and girls teams this year set their expectations at a high level. Win the league championship, and bring home hardware from CCS. The girls did just that winning the League Championship and placing 2nd, for the second year in a row, at CCS. The boys came close, placing 2nd at leagues and 6th, moving up one spot from last year, in CCS.

Both teams were young, and the athletes grew up right before our very eyes this season. The responded by swimming hard and

adding themselves to the strong history and tradition of Palo Alto Swimming.

The girls had their goals set: win Leagues and CCS. While suffering an early dual meet loss to Gunn early in the season, the girls never lost confidence or focus. They new that the season was a long one, and ran until the League Championship meet, they responded by using their entire roster and depth and beating Gunn at the League Championship meet to add to their streak and now claim 9 League Championships in a row. The story did not repeat itself at CCS. The girls came in as underdogs to a strong Mitty team. While they made up points on the returning champions the girls fell just short. The Viking squad this year was led by Jasmine Tosky who won two events at Leagues and two events at CCS. She was a 7 time All American, 5 individual and 2 relays, and set records at both the League meet and at CCS. She recorded League records in the 200 and 100 Freestyle events. She turned around and then set CCS records in the 200 Freestyle and 100 Butterfly. Along the way she broke 2 more school records, the 200 Freestyle and the 100 Butterfly. Sarah Liang also helped to lead the Vikings by recording victories at Leagues in the 200 IM and the 100 Breaststroke. She showed her strength at CCS with a 3rd place finish in the 200 IM and a second place finish in the 100 Breaststroke. Margaret Wenzlau, Sabrina Lee, Molly Zebker also helped to pace the Vikings with strong performances at both Leagues and CCS. Grace Greenwood brought the Diving program along for the ride with a 1st place finish and then placed 5th at CCS. Sophie Jorasch and Emma Miller also helped the Vikings this year with points at CCS. The Viking woman showed that swimming is a team sport, they empowered and cheered each other on all year. It was a great year, from a wonderful group of athletes!!

After graduating 4 key seniors from last year the boys were looking at a young lineup to try and catch their 6th League Championship in a row. Led by Byron Sanborn the boys made quite a run at that attempt. Picked early in the year to place 4th in Leagues, the boys not only placed second but put a strong run at first against a powerful Monta Vista lineup. The boys came up just short. Byron Sanborn won the 100 breaststroke and placed 3rd in the 200 IM. Arseny Kotov, Rollin Lau, Corso Rosati, DJ Fotsch and Alex Francis all finaled twice, and Charles Zhang missed by 1/100th of a second to lead the charge. Cole Plambeck won the diving event along with a strong 3rd place finish by Jordan Zenger, and a 5th by Francis to stake the team to an early lead. Going into CCS the boys, as a young team, were not sure what to expect. Diving got them started off great, and with some strong swimming the boys moved up a spot for a 6th place finish. While no hardware was presented to the team, this was a huge finish for a young team. Byron Sanborn brought home a victory in the 100 Breaststroke, the first in 8 years for the boys. Along the way this

young team gave themselves an identity and confidence in to the future. They know where they belong, and will work hard to put themselves back on top in 2011.

The JV girls set 8 new school records, and won their 9th League Championship in a row. Along the way Lauren Lo won two league titles in the 100 IM and the 100 Backstroke. Shannon Scheel won a league title in the 100 Freestyle. The JV girls also swept all 3 relays on their way to an upset win at the League Championship and avenging an ealier loss to Gunn High School.

The future looks bright for the Palo Alto Vikings, and looking back on this successful 2010 season is one of the reasons to be optimistic. All Viking swimmers and divers proved what it meant to be a student/athlete. They put

in hard work both in the classroom and in the pool to represent Palo Alto High School in fine tradition. As we close the 2010 season we wish our wonderful senior class all of the best in the future. They brought a lot to the program and

they will sorely be missed. But their leadership has brought on a young and hungry group ready to take the Torch and carry it into the future.

CONGRATULATIONS VIKINGS ON ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL AND MEMORY FILLED

SEASON!!!!