It was a gorgeous afternoon on Thursday – the last day of the Fool’s Spring we have been enjoying this week. Swimmers were laying out on the deck tanning after warm-ups, even though the UV level was only a 1. Sunglasses were everywhere, and the atmosphere was friendly and fun. The College Park coach, Sarah Dolphin, is a teacher at Springhill, so many AHS swimmers were happy to see her! However, once the meet got underway, it was all business. There were many swimmers that improved times, chasing those coveted NCS Consideration (CONS) times and even starting to get close to Automatic (NCS) times!
This was the first official meet of the season, which means RELAYS! Acalanes won all four of the 200 Medley Relays – YEAH! McKenzie Tierney, Caroline Urick, Mila Ellis and Avery Tanimura won the JV girls and Seb Strittmatter, Saul Rao, Will Miller and Wilson Daughters took first for the JV boys. The Varsity teams each took 1st with Brooklyn Plomp, Audrey Martin, Tess Veronda and Sophie Hendrickson swimming a 1:57.28 (CONS cutoff is 2:04.99), and Mason Schlehr, Jayden Hwang, Tyler Gerhardt and Alex Kurimai going 1:50.68 (CONS cutoff 1:52.99).
In the 200 Free, Ella Del Rosario continued her DONination in the pool with another win – by 10 seconds – with another CONS time. For the boys, senior Parker Etnyre made his debut for AHS this year at this meet – easily winning with a CONS time of 1:47.76 (2.09 sec away from NCS automatic cut off!). Cale Hanson took second, shaving 0.25 sec off his time at trials. He is now 0.62 seconds away from a CONS time! Next up was the 100 IM – a JV event. Mila Ellis took first for the girls with a 1:12.90 and Ava Bell was second. Frosh Liam Parks won easily with a time of 1:06.61.
The 50 Free is the most popular event at a high school swim meet – almost everyone loves a sprint race! Frosh Avery Tanimura and Sophomore Thomas Parrott each took 2nd overall in the JV races, while Sophie Hendrickson and Liv Hoppe took 1st and 2nd for the Varsity girls. Alex Kurimai shaved 0.16 sec off his 3rd place time and is now 0.76 sec away from a CONS time! In the Butterfly races, the JV and Varsity teams took top spots all around. Mila Ellis, Sophia Hwang and Zoe Stafford finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the JV 50 Fly, with Thomas Parrott and Will Miller taking the top two spots for the JV Boys. Kendall Lee won the 100 Fly for the Varsity girls with a 1:04.53 (1.54 sec off a CONS time) and Tess Veronda finished 3rd. Mason Schlehr won the Varsity Boys race.
In the 100 free, another popular event, The JV girls swept the podium again with Ava Bell, McKenzie Tierney and Sophia Hwang taking the top three spots. Seb Strittmatter took 2nd for JV boys going under 1 minute! The top three Varsity girls were all Dons, with Ella Del Rosario, Sophie Hendrickson and Brooklyn Plomp all swimming under 1 minute. Parker Etnyre was 1st for the Varsity boys with a time of 50.25 – a mere 0.26 seconds off a CONS time. Alex Kurimai was 3rd. Kendall Lee and Cale Hanson won the 500 Free events for the Dons, and McKenzie Tierney (JV Girls), Brooklyn Plomp (Varsity Girls) and Mason Schlehr (Varsity Boys) all won in the 100 Backstroke races. Sophomore Saul Rao finished 2nd for the Dons in the JV Boys 100 Breaststroke, while Sophomore Audrey Martin won the Varsity Girls 100 Breast with a 1:13.76 – only 0.77 seconds off a CONS time (proud mama here).
The evening turned cold very quickly, but it was a beautiful day for a swim meet, and a solid showing by the Dons! Next meet is Wednesday, March 6 at Northgate.
