It looks like this could be a great season for the Acalanes Swim Team with returning coaches Nick Inserra and Brett Usinger, now joined by Donna Elliot, plus an impressive 95 swimmers on the team! Last Wednesday the clouds parted and the sun shone for our first challenge of the season at the Acalanes pool versus the Knights of Las Lomas.
Our Acalanes swimmers posted a total of 11 NCS Consideration Times as follows: Taryn Veronda with 2:18.38 in 200 IM and 1:01.42 in 100 Back; Sophie MacKay with 24.76 in 50 Free and 53.77 in 100 Free; Christian Gotterup with 22.80 in 50 Free and 50.09 in 100 Free; Sadie Suppiger with 54.31 in 100 Free and 1:00.22 in 100 Back; Sara Archer with 56.70 in 100 Free; Parker Etnyre with 48.78 in 100 Free; and Audrey Cox with 5:26.12 in 500 Free. Congratulations for these very fast times, and congratulations to ALL the Dons swimmers, JV and varsity, many of whom shaved impressive seconds off their time trials stats from just two weeks ago. It’s obvious that some hard work is happening during practice and we are proud of all of you.
Las Lomas is an interesting team with a number of very talented swimmers. In 2022 they prevailed at the Dons’ first meet of the season at their own home pool. However, this year the Dons had more traction showing somewhat balanced results. The varsity women won 10 out of 11 events, and the varsity men were unfortunately outscored by Las Lomas, in spite of some fantastic freestyle swims by captains Parker Etnyre and Christian Gotterup. The relays, which count for multiple points, were also close and fun to watch. The varsity women achieved first and second place finishes in the 200 Medley Relay, first and third in the 200 yard free relay, and first and third in the 400 free relay. The varsity men placed second and third in the 200 IM relay, second in the 200 free relay and 3rd in the 400 free relay.
On Wednesday, March 15, our swimmers take on the Campo Cougars at the Soda Center in Moraga. The meet will start at approximately 3:45 p.m. Come show your support and cheer on the Acalanes swimmers at their first away meet of the season!
