Knights ready to shine
Soquel boasts three college committed seniors, Kailyn Winter, Ella Mazurek, Haley Hoeffer, who are ready to re-write the record book
Given the immense talent on his roster, Soquel High swim coach Jarret Winter can only shake his head and wonder what heights his girls’ team could have reached were it not for the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Knights boast three seniors bound for NCAA Division I universities after this season:
* Kailyn Winter, who’s headed to Cal, placed second in the Central Coast Section in both the 50yard freestyle and the 100-butterfly as a sophomore, then went on to finish fifth in both events at the state meet;
* Ella Mazurek, who has committed to Alabama, took second in the 100 freestyle and third in the 200 free at CCS in 2019, then came in fifth in the 100 at the state meet; and
* Haley Hoeffer, who will swim for UC Davis, excels in both the breaststroke and the butterfly and obliterated the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League’s record in the 200 individual medley as a freshman.
Kailyn Winter, Mazurek and Hoeffer were poised to be even more dominant — together and separately — in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic arrived and wiped out their season. Although the trio will get to swim for Soquel one last time this spring, their last season together will
consist of a few duals and a season-ending league meet that will be spread out across multiple sites — though there remains hope that the CCS will host a postseason meet.
“They could have rewritten the record books if this was a normal year,” Jarret Winter said. “We could have had a decent year. It’s too bad all this COVID stuff got in the way.
“If we could get them on a relay team, they could win CCS for sure. They might even be top three in the state.”
Unfortunately, relays will be one of many things absent from SCCAL meets this year. There will also be no more than two teams at any given site, fewer heats for each event and fewer swimmers in the pool at any given time, as not all lanes will be used.
In fact, many teams have fewer swimmers in general in this most unusual of seasons. In a sport where teams typically have 40 to 60 athletes — counting both varsity and junior varsity — most SCCAL schools’ numbers are down significantly.
Soquel isn’t among them. However, Aptos — typically the Knights’ chief rival for the league crown — surprisingly is: Mariners coach Jim Triplett estimates that he has 20 swimmers max — counting both boys and girls, on varsity and junior varsity.
Athletes who otherwise would have gone out for swimming in the spring are competing in sports that, in normal circumstances, would be played in the fall or winter seasons. That includes water polo, to which many SCCAL teams expect to lose swimmers before the season-ending league meet in mid-April.
“We’ve got all the sports going on at the same time,” Triplett said.
Also among the schools with low turnout is Watsonville, which joins the temporarily expanded SCCAL for this season only along with Monte Vista Christian, Pacific Collegiate, and St. Francis this season. A CIF Division I school in terms of enrollment, Watsonville has just eight total swimmers — counting boys and girls —
and only one of them is returning from last season.
“All the kids I have, the few that I have so far, only want a place to work out and relieve some of their COVID anxiety,” Wildcatz coach Brooke Lynch said via e-mail. “I am not too hopeful for a ‘competitive’ season.
“This is my seventh year coaching the team,” she added. “It took years to build it up. It feels like my assistant coach and I will have to start all over. Hopefully next year will be better and we will be able to bounce back where we belong in terms of numbers.”
Other coaches around the SCCAL share that sentiment, which is why there won’t be much emphasis on times and scores at league meets this season.
“I’m just glad kids have a chance to get out of the house and race a little bit,” Triplett said.
Against that backdrop, Soquel appears to be the undeniable front-runner for the SCCAL title.
Kailyn Winter and Mazurek give the Knights a powerful 1-2 punch in the sprint freestyle events (50 and 100), though Winter is also formidable in the 100 butterfly. Hoeffer is a powerful breaststroker and butterfly specialist.
Joining that group will be Winter’s younger sister Tenaya, a sophomore whose focus will be longer-distance freestyle races (100, 200 and 500). Freshman Hazel Wilson gives Soquel added depth in the latter two races, and Jarret Winter sees freshman Kayla Matthies contributing to his team’s success as well.
Elsewhere in the SCCAL, Aptos’ strongest swimmer is a newcomer, junior Coco Friedley. Scotts Valley coach Mike Ayers expects senior Lucy Norris to excel in the 100 butterfly and the 100 freestyle.
Santa Cruz’s top returning swimmer is junior Belene Rodrigues, who anchored two relays at the CCS meet in 2019 and also qualified individually in the 50 free. Seniors Fiona Lyon and Sophia Rascon and sophomores Sonia Ukropina and Savannah Babcock give the Cardinals a deep group of freestylists.
With a relatively young squad, Harbor coach Jake Soares believes sophomores Kaylee Gooch and Moorea Robertson will fare well in non-freestyle events — Gooch in the backstroke and breaststroke, Robertson in the individual medley and butterfly.
Harbor is one of three SCCAL schools with new or vastly improved pools this season — the others are Monte Vista Christian and San Lorenzo Valley. SLV, however, has opted not to compete in swimming this season.
That’s not the case for MVC: Mustangs senior Madison Turner, who set the Pacific Coast Athletic League’s backstroke record as a sophomore in 2019, is perhaps the strongest swimmer from the PCAL schools that have temporarily joined the SCCAL this season. Turner is also strong in the 50 free, and senior Faith Huffman gives the Mustangs experience that many SCCAL teams lack.
St. Francis will be led by senior Caeli Tani, whose specialties are the 200 and 500 freestyles.
Back to lead Pacific Collegiate is Darlina Williams, who gives the Pumas a formidable presence in freestyle and backstroke races, as does fellow junior Gwen Sharp. PCS coach David Lederman calls sophomore Ella Schuppek “an outstanding all-around swimmer capable of performing well in any event.”