Palo Alto starts off the league season with a sweep of Lynbrook

The Palo Alto Viking Swimming Team started out the League season with a sweep of Lynbrook. All 4 divisions swam a great meet on their way to beginning the season 3-0 and starting off the league season at 1-0. The weather cooperated for wonderful day at the Palo Alto pool and the Viking swimmers responded with a great day.

The Varsity Girls showed their strength and depth with a 148-30 win over Lynbrook. The Lady Vikes won all of their events. The girls won all 3 relays. The winning 200 Medley Relay consisting of Paige Devine, Laura Cui, Molly Zebker and Jennifer Chang came in at a time of 1:56.01. The 200 Free Relay including Sarah Liang, Sabrina Lee, Margaret Wenzlau and Jasmine Tosky clocked in at 1:42.50 and the same quartet won the 400 Free Relay in a time of 3:44.56. Double winners on the day included Jasmine Tosky in the 200 Freestyle at a time of 1:58.05 and the 500 Freestyle in a time of 5:20.27. Sarah Liang won the 200 IM in a time of 2:16.65 and the 100 Breaststroke in a time of 1:09.39. Sabrina Lee contributed two victories with a win in the 100 Freestyle at 54.34 and the 100 Backstroke in a time of 1:00.27. Other winners included Freshman Jayna Wittenbreck in the 50 Freestyle with a time of 25.46 and Margaret Wenzlau in the 100 Butterfly with a time of 58.08. Grace Greenwood added a victory in the diving portion of the meet helping the girls to a sweep of all events and a strong start to their league season.

The Viking Boys, who won with a score of 113-67, were led by double winners Byron Sanborn, Rollin Lau and Freshman Andrew Liang. Sanborn won the 200 IM in a time of 2:03.88 and the 100 Breaststroke in a time of 1:03.69. Lau brought home victories in the 200 Free with a season best time of 1:50.93 and the 500 Freestyle with a time of 5:04.80. Freshman Liang won the sprint events with a time of 21.72 in the 50 Freestyle and a time of 48.98 in the 100 Freestyle. Other winners included DJ Fotsch in the 100 Butterfly with a season best time of 57.58 and Freshman Willie Lee in the 100 Backstroke with a time of 56.75. Cole Plambeck won the diving as the Viking boys swept all of the individual events. They didn't stop there as they also swept the Relay events. The foursome of Lee, Sanborn, Fotsch and Lau won the 200 Medley Relay in a time of 1:42.91. The 200 Freestyle team of Liang, Lee, Fotsch and Kotov won in a time of 1:33.11, and the 400 Freestyle Relay of Kotov, Lau, Liang and Sanborn brought home the sweep with a time of 3:21.92. It was a strong victory for the Vikings and helped them on their way to reclaiming their League championship.

The JV Girls also swam well and dominated winning the meet 121-62. The won 10 of the 12 events and tied one. Double winners included Haley Mortenson in the 200 Freestyle and 500 Freestyle in times of 2:08.93 and 5:51.99. Jessica Cox won the 100 IM in a time of 1:11.61 and the 50 Butterfly in a time of 30.85. Katrina Nguyen won the 50 Freestyle in a time of 27.07 and the 100 Backstroke in a time of 1:06.04. Quitterie Collignon won the 100 Freestyle in a time of 1:01.04 and Abby Bromberg tied for a victory in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:18.74. The JV Lady Vikes won 2 of the 3 relays. Nguyen, Chelsea Chen, Cox and Isabel Seife won the 200 Medley Relay in a time of 2:08.74, while Nguyen, Collignon, Cox and Mortenson won the 400 Free Relay in a time of 4:08.23. Zoe Greene won the diving portion for the JV Girls. It was a great start to their League season as they hope to claim the title for the 11th year in a row.

The JV Boys had the tougher time of the group but still brought home victory with a score of 96-87. Connor Fotsch was a double winner with victories in the 100 IM and the 50 Butterfly bringing home times of 1:03.21 and 28.34. Quinn Rockwell was also a double winner in the 50 and 100 Freestyles with times of 24.86 and 56.31. The boys also won both Freestyle Relays. Rockwell, Matthew Abbott, Will Conner and Omri Newman won the 200 Free Relay in a time of 1:42.92 and Fotsch, Conner, Ethan Look and Newman won the 400 Free Relay in a time of 3:45.34. Noam Hurwitz won the diving to help seal the victory.

It was a great day in the pool for the Vikings and they are looking forward to a great season. Their next meet is in 2 weeks at Los Gatos High School where a strong Los Gatos team awaits them. Come on out and cheer them to Victory.