Paly girls’ swimming and diving fell to cross-town rival Gunn, falling short of Gunn’s 97 points with 89 and ending a season-long winning streak. Boys’ swimming and diving won their side though with 108 points.
In diving, Alex Francis (’13) scored 224.5 winning the boys’ division, while Serena Yee (’13) scored 203.5, winning the girls’ division. Phoebe So (’14) made a leap into second, scoring 169.0 and moving past Central Coast Section (CCS) qualifier Nadya Nee (’13) who scored 159.5. Although girls’ captain Emma Miller (’12) was absent due to illness and boys’ captain and Olympic hopeful Cole Plambeck did not participate in the meet, Paly nonetheless secured the top three girls’ spots and the top two boys’ spots.
In swimming, the girls fell short on the last event of the day, the 400 yard freestyle relay race. The girls needed a first and second place finish but came up short and were instead only able to secure second and third. Paly’s B relay team of Shannon Scheel (’12), Karina Goot (’14), Rachelle Holmgren (’12) and Haley Mortenson (’13) swam 3:49.05 placing third as necessary, while the A team finished just seconds short of Gunn’s first place A team. Without the first place finish, Paly fell eight points short.
The boys lone A relay team of Andrew Liang (’14) Rollin Lau (’12), Francis and Byron Sanborn (’12), however, won the 400 yard free relay with a comfortable 13.5 second margin ahead of Gunn’s A team, finishing with 3:22.48, scoring eight points, and qualifying Paly for the 400 free event for CCS. For Francis though, his qualification in the 100 yard backstroke and 200 IM means that he will be the lone athlete this year to qualify for CCS in both the swimming and diving disciplines. This will be his third year competing in CCS for both swimming and diving.
“In previous years, I have been in the top 16 [divers] for diving,” he said. “This year, I’m hoping to get top eight with Cole [Plambeck] so we can score big.”
Girls’ swimming co-captain Holmgren is also looking to the near future, expressing her belief that Paly will close the season well.
“It was a little bit of a disappointment but we are focusing on rebounding at leagues and CCS, both meets that we hope to win,” she said.
Diving has its next 11-dive meet, the Section Challenge, Friday, Apr. 20 at 3:30 at Paly, in which Yee, So, and Jonathan Kosaka (’14) hope to qualify for CCS. Swimming will compete on Saturday, Apr. 21 at 9:00 in the swimming Section Challenge.
