A sudden spur of spring-like weather in Palo Alto this week made for a sunny, fan-filled swim meet on Friday at Palo Alto High School. Amidst the 85-degree sunshine, the Palo Alto girls’ varsity swim team defeated Homestead High School 144-141 overall in the Homestead Dual Meet, adding another win to its now 5-0 record.
(Want to see how the Paly boy’s swim team did? Click here)
With the poolside bleachers almost full, the meet began with the 200 Medley Relay, in which Paly collectively clocked in at 1:52:88. While Homestead began the race trailing closely behind the Lady Vikes competitors Laura Cui (‘12), Margaret Wenzlau (‘12), Sabrina Lee (‘11) and Jennifer Chang (‘13), who collaboratively pulled ahead to win the event.
Later on, Paly participants received both first and second place in the 200 Free event. Paly swimmer Jasmine Tosky (‘12) finished first, while teammate Rachelle Holmgren (‘12) fell close behind.
“Right now I’m trying to get as close as I can to my personal best so when CCS (Central Coast Section) rolls around I can hopefully score some points to help the team win the title,” Holmgren said. “I think right now we are trying to focus on race strategy more and as a result our team performed really well with a lot of people swimming season bests.”
To finish off the day, the Lady Vikes again took victory in the 400 Freestyle Relay. Contributing to the win were Jayna Wittenbrink (’14) , Lee, Wenzlau and Tosky with a win in time of 3:44.64.
Holmgren believes that her teams early undefeated state in the season will lead them through long-term success.
“After two years of being so close to winning CCS this year we just want to capture it,” Holmgren said.
The Lady Vikes will compete in the Monta Vista Dual Meet at Monta Vista next Friday at 3:30 pm.
