It's a Sweep for the Viking swimming teams at the League Championships

The Palo Alto Viking swimmers did something that they had not done since 2005, they swept every division in the SCVAL Deanza Division Swimming and Diving Championships.  For the boys it was a little easier as they swam and dove strong and coasted to their victories.  For the girls it was a little tight, but all of the girls stepped up and contributed and in the end, they had their victory.

For the 2012 Lady Vikes, they had a challenge ahead of them from the beginning of the season.  After losing strong contributing seniors Sarah Liang, Sabrina Lee, Kimberly Hallsted, Megan Okada and Grace Greenwood, the question was if they would have enough depth to hold off a very talented Gunn squad.  After losing their dual meet to Gunn, the swimmers were even more concerned about their ability to not only repeat as League champs, but to extend their winning streak for League titles to 10.  All of those questions were answered on Friday.  After the prelims the girls were informed by Coach Dye that if the meet were scored now, with diving and how he knew the relays would go, the girls would lose to Gunn by 1 point.  At the beginning of the meet Coach Dye gave the girls a strong pre meet speech and put the day in their hands.  They responded!!!  The girls started out with a Victory in the 200 Medley Relay.  Kristina Nguyen, Laura Cui, Margaret Wenzlau and Jasmine Tosky swam to victory in a time of 1:48.73. Next up, the 200 Freestyle.  This was one of the events the girls needed to make up points on.  Jasmine Tosky cruised to victory in a time of 1:48.14.  Jayna Wittenbrink gave a stand out performance.  She swam a personal best time of 1:54.68 jumping over 3 Gunn swimmers.  Rachelle Holmgren won the consolation heat in a time of 2:00.42 and Haley Mortenson added an 11th place finish in a time of 2:00.92.  The 200 IM was another opportunity for the Lady Vikes to pick up some much needed points.  they did just that.  Seeded second, Molly Zebker swam a personal best time of 2:07.42 and claiming victory.  Laura Cui added a seventh place finish with a time of 2:15.59.  Maddie Berger held her ground in the the consolation heat and came in with a time of 2:19.30.  The 50 Freestyle was a strength for Gunn and Palo Alto needed to find some magic.  They did just that.  Margaret Wenzlau swam a time of 25.23 to place 6th and Katrina Nguyen swam to 8th place with a personal best of 25.55.  Shannon Scheel showing her senior leadership won the consolation heat in a time of 25.89, and Alex Lin added a 15th place finish with a time of 26.95.  The diving was reported on last Tuesday, but the 62 points the added was the path to victory.  Emma Miller, Serena Yee and Nadia Nee went 1,2,3 with Phoebe So adding a 9th place finish.  One of the key races was the 100 Butterfly, the girls needed a strong showing before having to run Gunn's gauntlet of the 100 Free and 500 Free.  Jasmine Tosky again cruised to victory breaking her own SCVAL record with a time of 55.05.  Jayna Wittenbrink continued her strong meet performance with a second place finish of 56.77.  Margaret Wenzlau showing her grit and resolve after foot surgery just 10 weeks ago, caught a Gunn swimmer from behind and finished 3rd with a time of 57.50.  Megan Brendanberg improved on her seed and placed 12th with a time of 1:05.42.  In a strategic move, Coach Dye put Molly Zebker in the 100 Freestyle.  She responded with a great swim of 54.19, good for 3rd place and passing a Gunn swimmer along the way.  Haley Mortenson went a personal best time of 55.40 and placed 5th, while Shannon Scheel added an 8th place finish with a time of 56.10.  Alex Lin moved up a spot and placed 14th with a time of 58.80.  The 500 Free was another spot the girls needed to try and chip away at the points.  Rachelle Holmgren helped out by trimming 6 seconds off of her prelim time with a time of 5:19.46, good for 4th place.  Maria Toulokhonova moved from 8th to 6th with a time of 5:27.99 and Quitterie Collignon placed 7th with a time of 5:28.76.  Caroline Moeser helped out with an 11th place finish in 5:35.41.  Coach Dye knew he couldn't beat the 200 Free Relay of Gunn High School and just needed to play defense.  He did that with a 200 Free Relay that tied for 3rd with a time of 1:41.53, Wittenbrink, Zebker, Nguyen and Wenzlau swam a great race.  In the 100 Backstroke, the Lady Vikes again just needed to hold off Gunn.  The did a great job of doing that with Katrina Nguyen placing 5th with a time of 1:02.42.  Skylar Dorosin added a 13th place finish in a time of 1:05.38 while Moeser and Toulokhonova round out the 15th and 16th spots in times of 1:06.16 and 1:06.57.  Laura Cui led the way in the Breaststroke with a second place swim of 1:07.95.  Maddie Berger placed a strong 5th with a time of 1:10.27.  Megan Brendanberg rounded out the top 8 with a time of 1:12.75.  Karina Goot added an 11th place finish with a time of 1:13.37.  With a 15 point lead going into the final event, the girls 400 Freestyle Relay finished second in a time of 3:33.09, the relay swimmers were Wittenbrink, Mortenson, Zebker and Tosky.

The girls showed true heart and resolve coming into the day as underdogs and coming out with a 9 point victory.  They showed their gifts, talents and Paly pride and came out with their 10 consecutive league title.  Congratulations to the 2012 Lady Vikes for such a determined victory!!!!

The Viking boys had a much easier time of it.  Being spotted 59 points by the divers and with a strong showing on prelim day, the stress was much less as they cruised to a defense of their league title and won for the 7th time in the past 8 years.  The boys started off the day by setting a new SCVAL record in the 200 Medley Relay.  William Lee, Byron Sanborn, Andrew Liang and Charles Zhang swam a time of 1:35.69 and a first place finish.  Sanborn then not only won both of his races, but he set two new SCVAL records in the process.  With a time of 1:51.80 he broke the 200 Individual Medley Record and then with a time of 56.77 he broke a 43 year old record in the 100 Breaststroke.  Andrew Liang was also a two time winner.  He set a new school record in the 50 Freestyle becoming the first Palo Alto Viking to break 21 seconds with a time of 20.93.  He followed that up with an upset victory in the 500 Freestyle with a time of 4:36.98.  William Lee placed third in the 200 Freestyle with a time of 1:47.59 and then finished 3rd again in the 100 Backstroke with a time of 52.94.  Other strong performances for the boys were Rollin Lau with a 4th place finish in the 200 Freestyle with a time of 1:48.41, and then winning the consolation heat of the 100 Butterfly with a time of 55.88.  Corso Rosati placed 8th in the 200 Freestyle with a time of 1:51.64 and then finished 4th in the 100 Butterfly with a time of 54.34.  Eren Kiris placed 5th in the 200 Freestyle with a time of 1:49.88 and then followed that up with a 5th place finish in the 100 Freestyle with a time of 50.07.  Charles Zhang won both of his consolation heats with times of 2:03.75 in the IM and 1:03.56 in the 100 breaststroke.  Daniel Armitano placed 7th in the 100 Breaststroke with a time of 1:03.13.  Alex Francis had a strong showing placing 3rd in the 200 IM with a personal best time of 1:57.02, and then 4th in the 100 Back with a time of 54.51.  We have two Winston Wang's.  Our first one placed 14th in the 200 IM with a time of 2:10.10 and then placed 12th in the 100 Breaststroke with a time of 1:04.94.  The other Winston had two top 8 finishes.  He swam a personal best in the 500 Freestyle with a time of 5:06..07 good for 6th place, and then again placed 6th in the 100 backstroke with a time of 55.28.  Marco Coleman chipped in with a 12th place finish in the 500 Freestyle with a time of 5:26.36.  Jumping into the fun Peter Rockhold placed 13th in the 50 Freestyle with a time of 23.61 and then 14th in the 100 Freestyle with a time of 52.36.  Youngkuk Lee added a 12th place finish in the 50 Freestyle with a time of 23.61.

The boys showed their talent and strength from the first swim onward and never looked back.  They successfully defended their SCVAL title and now look forward to a strong CCS showing next week.

Congratulations to the 2012 Varsity swimming teams on their SCVAL Titles!!!!