Wednesday was another beautiful afternoon at Heaston Aquatic Center, as the Dons hosted a very large, very strong Mats swim team! This meet was supposed to happen on Monday, but was moved to Wednesday – when we had our pictures scheduled.  We moved pictures to lunchtime at the last minute, so look for some awesome senior banners to decorate the pool entrance soon!  

Even though the Mats team is almost twice as big as ours, the Dons still put in some noteworthy performances! The Medley Relay teams went 3 for 4 in earning NCS Consideration (CONS) times.  Senior Taryn Veronda, Frosh Anna Motes, Frosh Kendall Lee and Senior Sophie Hendrickson went 1:54.96 (CONS is 2:04.99, AUTO is 1:52.62), while the B team of Senior Brooklyn Plomp, Sophomore Audrey Martin, Frosh Tess Veronda and Senior Liv Hoppe went 1:59.57. The Boys A team of Sophomore Mason Schlehr, Senior Will Dreyer, Junior Anthony Yamamoto and Senior Alexander Butler went 1:48.50 (CONS 1:52.99).

Frosh Avery Tanimura had a huge time improvement (4.49 sec!), finishing 3rd in the JV Girls 200 free. Sophomore Ella Del Rosario improved her CONS time to 2:02.24 (cutoff 2:05.99, finishing 2nd in the girls varsity race. Frosh Andrew Tanimura took 2nd in the boys varsity race, with a 3.14 second improvement! 

Frosh Mila Ellis finished second in the JV girls 100 IM. In the boys varsity race, Senior Parker Etnyre won his race by over 10 seconds!  He swam a 2:03.83 (CONS cutoff 2:06.99). 

The 50 Free races were exciting ones! Frosh Caroline Tumilty and Ava Bell finished 2nd and 4th in the JV girls race. Liv Hoppe finished 3rd overall in the varsity race in 26.04 with a solid time improvement of 0.43 sec – that’s big in a sprint race! The boys varsity race was exciting, with Senior Alexander Butler finishing 2nd overall with a 22.81 – a 0.5 sec improvement and only 0.26 off the CONS cutoff! Senior Cale Hanson made his 50 free debut this season with a solid 23.57, finishing 4th. 

In the 100 fly, Tess Veronda finished 2nd with a 0.74 sec time improvement while Mason Schlehr broke 1 minute, finishing in 59.96!

Junior Sadie Suppiger easily won the 100 free with 53.69 (AUTO is 52.08, CONS 56.55), while Ella Del Rosario took 3rd place with a 55.69 – a 1.2 sec improvement, and her 3rd CONS time of the season! Brooklyn Plomp finished 4th with 57.37. On the boys side, Parker Etnyre and Alexander Butler went 1-2 for the Dons, finishing in 49.12 (CONS is 49.99, AUTO 47.94) and 51.65 respectively.  

The 500 free races saw some huge time improvements (TIs or time pops) for the Dons!  Avery Tanimura popped her time by 5.63 seconds in the JV girls race!  In the varsity races, Kendall Lee popped by 3.66 seconds and Cale Hanson popped by 4.95 seconds!  

In the 200 Free Relays, the girls varsity team of Frosh Adelyn Horciza, Ella Del Rosario, Sophie Hendrickson and Sadie Suppiger finished 2nd with a 1:43.63 (CONS is 1:51.99 and AUTO is 1:42.29)! The Boys team of Parker Etnyre, Senior Will Dreyer, Andrew Tanimura and Senior Toby Brock-Utne also had a strong showing, finishing in 1:34.78 (CONS is 1:39.99, AUTO is 1:30.28). 

The Dons took the whole podium in the Varsity girls 100 back, with Sadie Suppiger winning in 59.20 (0.5 sec off an AUTO time) and Taryn Veronda and Brooklyn Plomp in 2nd and 3rd, improving both their times as well! In the girls varsity 100 breast race, Anna Motes continued her winning streak, finishing first with a solid CONS time of 1:10.11, while Audrey Martin swam a 1:13.45 in her 2nd place finish (she’s now 0.46 off CONS)! In the boys race, Will Dreyer had a huge time pop of 3.39 seconds, swimming 1:07.97 in his 2nd place finish!

Ending the meet, the 400 Free Relay teams went 3 for 4 in earning CONS times – the girls A team of Brooklyn Plomp, Ella Del Rosario, Adelyn Horciza and Sadie Suppiger went 3:50.87 (CONS is 4:10.99, AUTO is 3:46.63), and the B team of Junior Juliet McIlwain, Taryn Veronda Junior Fiona Roux and Junior Kate Roberts went 4:03.30. The boys A team of Parker Etnyre, Cale Hanson, Andrew Tanimura and Mason Schlehr went 3:28.20 (CONS is 3:37.99, AUTO is 3:18.38). 

Our swimmers are getting closer and closer to CONS and AUTO times for NCS!  I feel pretty confident that we will send swimmers to CIF (State) as well!  We are on the bus heading to the Mission Viejo Invitational Meet this weekend – it’s a big competition on Saturday, 3/15 in a fast pool!  Stay tuned for a big time improvement update from this weekend!  Next meet vs Campo is Thursday, 3/21 at Acalanes. GO DONS!!!