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.