The Acalanes Swim Team received devastating news today – after a technological glitch resulting from possible internet connectivity issues prevented our qualifying swimmers from being entered into the NCS meet by the deadline, and after two days of strong advocacy by parents, students, and administration, the final decision has been made by NCS Leadership to not include any AHS swimmers in the NCS meet. This is heartbreaking for the 13 swimmers we have that qualified by swimming amazing times after a full season of hard work – 6am practices, after school practices, weight training – up to 16 hours a week!  

In light of this terrible news, I want to take this opportunity to highlight each of these amazing swimmers and tell their stories. This decision by NCS is hurting our best athletes, and they deserve to be celebrated, not punished. If anyone would like to write a letter of support to the NCS Commissioner, Pat Cruickshank, he can be reached at pcruickshank@cifncs.org.  His assistant, Suzette Livingston, can be reached at slivingston@cifncs.org. 

Now to begin the celebration of our amazing athletes!   

GIRLS 200 MEDLEY RELAY – the team of senior Taryn Veronda, frosh Anna Motes, frosh Kendall Lee and senior Liv Hoppe swam an incredible 1:50.78 at the DAL prelims on Thursday, 4/25. NCS Automatic cutoff is 1:52.62.  They would have been the 9th seed in the NCS meet, out of 40 teams that were entered, but they won’t be able to swim. Taryn, a senior who has committed to swimming at Amherst led off this race with a 28.14 split – she is known for backstroke!  Anna Motes followed up with a 30.35 breaststroke split – her fastest split of the season – and she has been on the Medley A Relay all season long. Kendall, another impressive talent, swam a 27.04 fly split, and Liv finished it out with a 25.25 free.  This time now stands as #9 on the AHS Top 10 All Time Records.  This would have been the first time Anna, Kendall and Liv would have swam at NCS. This was Liv’s last chance – and she was so excited to qualify to swim at NCS her senior year. No doubt we will see Anna and Kendall next year.  

GIRLS 200 FREE – Ella Del Rosario swam a 1:58.71 at the DAL prelims on Thursday 4/25. As I mentioned at the beginning of the season, Ella is a sophomore, who was the leading scorer on the Varsity Water Polo team this year. She is incredibly strong and incredibly fast.  She missed the NCS Automatic cutoff by 0.05 seconds, and will no doubt be back next year.  She would have gone to NCS as a 27th seed – if she had been allowed to compete. 

BOYS 200 FREE – Senior Parker Etnyre, who has NCS times in two events and Consideration times in three others, who is all over the AHS Top 10 All-Time Records, swam a 1:43.84 at the Mission Viejo Invitational in March.  At DAL, he almost matched this time by swimming a 1:43.88 in the finals. This time would have placed him as the 11th seed at NCS. Parker is a talented and versatile swimmer, a quiet leader, and someone that everyone looks up to.  He stands on five of the AHS Top 10 All-Time best lists.  Such a shame that he is not being allowed to compete. 

GIRLS 200 IM – Senior Taryn Veronda – such a talent!  She has three NCS Consideration times – in IM, 100 Back and 100 Fly.  She swims year-round at Orinda Aquatics, and was so proud when last year, after a particularly focused period of training, she popped her backstroke time by 5 seconds, going 59.04 in 2023. She is on our Top-10 list – twice – and will swim in college.  Her time of 2:13.07 would have made her the 20th seed at NCS – if she had been allowed to compete. 

Frosh Anna Motes – I have watched Anna swim since she was 7 years old.  She is a huge talent – a huge asset to our team, and a wonderful person. She came into this team, was immediately put on our fastest relay team, has an NCS Automatic time in Breaststroke (and very very good times in many other events), and swims year round for Orinda Aquatics. She swam a 2:15.93 in 200 IM this season, putting her as the 27th seed at NCS – if she had been allowed to compete.  

GIRLS 100 FLY – Frosh Kendall Lee – what a talent! She swims faster than anyone else at practice! She has two NCS Consideration times – in 100 Back and 100 Fly.  No doubt we will see her next year!  She would have been the 39th seed in 100 Fly at NCS – if she had been allowed to compete. 

GIRLS 100 FREESTYLE – SADIE SUPPIGER! What a talent!  She started swimming at Springbrook, is all over the record board there, went to Crow Canyon – the most competitive year-round team in the area, and has competed on the national level several times.  She just committed to swimming at Vanderbilt – and she’s a junior!  Sadie would have been the 10th seed at NCS, with a time of 52.28, if she had been allowed to compete. 

Ella Del Rosario would have been the 24th seed with a time of 54.39 – if she had been allowed to compete. 

Senior Brooklyn Plomp is a phenomenal water polo player who came to us last year from Canada. She is on our varsity water polo team, and has played at the national level representing her home country of Canada. She is a talented backstroker and freestyler – and she would have been the 35th seed at NCS in the 100 Free with a time of 55.37 – if she had been allowed to compete. 

BOYS 100 FREESTYLE – Senior Parker Etnyre would have been the 13th seed in this race with a time of 47.29 – if he had been allowed to compete.  

GIRLS 200 FREE RELAY – Junior Sadie Suppiger, Sophomore Ella Del Rosario, Senior Liv Hoppe and Senior Sadie Hendrickson swam a 1:41.99 at the DAL meet to qualify for NCS. They made the Automatic cutoff, and would have been seeded 14th at NCS, if they had been allowed to compete.  So much talent and power in this team! 

BOYS 200 FREE RELAY – This all-senior team of Parker Etnyre, Alex Butler, Hans Ramirez and Cale Hanson – they popped 5.6 seconds in the DAL finals to earn an NCS Automatic time and qualify for NCS.  We all know the talent that Parker is, but Alex, Hans and Cale all have their own stories as well.  Alex hovered right on the cusp of an NCS Consideration time in the 50 Free all season long. He would be frustrated, meet after meet, when he didn’t improve his time. He needed 0.07 seconds and only got 0.02 in the prelims. The morning of the finals, he strained his neck in warmups, and was in pain as he competed. He dug deep and found 0.09 to earn that NCS time. What a success for him!  Hans – an incredible talent who was injured most of the season, had JUST returned to competition less than two weeks before the DAL meet! He swam a 22 second split in this relay – in his third meet back from injury! Cale is a distance swimmer – he has NCS Consideration times in 200 Free and 500 Free – and yet he swam a 21.4 anchor leg to propel this senior team to NCS! They would have been the 17th seed – if they had been allowed to compete.  

GIRLS 100 BACKSTROKE – Sadie Suppiger swam a 57.31 at the DAL finals to earn an NCS Automatic time – she would have been the 8th seed at NCS – if she had been allowed to compete.  She sits at #2 on the AHS Top 10 All-Time Record list in 100 Back. 

Taryn Veronda swam a 59.43 at the DAL finals to earn what would have been the 14th seed at NCS – if she had been allowed to compete.  She sits at #4 on the AHS Top 10 All-Time Record list in 100 Back. 

Brooklyn Plomp swam a 1:00.33 during the season to earn what would have been the 19th seed at NCS – if she had been allowed to compete.  She is #8 on the AHS Top 10 All-Time Record list in 100 Back. 

GIRLS 100 BREASTSTROKE – Frosh Anna Motes – she already holds the #5 spot on the AHS Top-10 All-Time Record List, and she’s in 9th grade!  She swam for LMYA for four years before joining Orinda Aquatics at 10-11 years of age. She swam a 1:07.13 in the DAL prelims to earn an NCS Automatic time – she would have been the 17th seed – if she had been allowed to compete.  

Sophomore Audrey Martin has been chasing Anna since they were seven years old and dominating breaststroke races at LMYA. She qualified for NCS last year at the DAL JV Invitational, popping her time by over four seconds, and went to NCS last year – and finished LAST.  She was determined to have a better showing this year – and she improved her time this season by almost three seconds.  She swam a 1:08.46 at the DAL Finals, and she would have been the 22nd seed at NCS this year – if she had been allowed to compete.  

GIRLS 400 FREE RELAY – The team of Taryn Veronda, Sadie Suppiger, Ella Del Rosario and Brooklyn Plomp swam a 3:41.60 at the DAL prelims last Thursday. This is an NCS Automatic time by over 5 seconds, and this team would have been the 11th seed at NCS – if they had been allowed to compete.  

BOYS 400 FREE RELAY – The team of Cale Hanson, Alex Butler, Hans Ramirez and Parker Etnyre swam a 3:16.67 – an NCS Automatic time – at the DAL Finals – a pop of almost 8 seconds!  They would have been the 17th seed at NCS – if they had been allowed to compete.  

It is a truly heartbreaking way for our season to be cut short – but these swimmers made us proud all season long, and deserve to be recognized for their efforts and accomplishments!  

GO DONS!!!