CCS, NCS champions shine in the pool
Palo Alto, De La Salle, Campolindo and St. Ignatius win section titles.
The dream of every swimming and diving coach is to dive into a pool to celebrate a championship trophy.
On May 7, the fortunate few who remembered to empty their pockets in order to preserve precious cellphones consisted of a quartet from Palo Alto, De La Salle, Campolindo and St. Ignatius.
Here's what happened at the Central Coast Section finals at the Santa Clara International Swim Center along with the North Coast Section finals at the Concord Community Pool.
CCS Boys
Palo Alto coach Danny Dye already claimed a trio of section titles on the girls' side ('05, '16, '17).
Strike the boys from his bucket list after the Vikings ended a five-year run by Bellarmine, which included a COVID-19 vacated campaign in 2020.
Paly possibly boasted a better squad a year ago, but couldn't compete after a ruling by administrators denied its chance for backto-back titles.
This marks the mountaintop of a long journey for the Vikings.
“It's indescribable,” Dye said. “It's the culmination of two years, and the way the athletes held themselves, stayed focused no matter what adversities came in front of them and to see them finish them, there's just no description for the emotion or elation that I have.”
Crosstown rival Gunn snapped a 31-year streak by the Bells in 2016, but this felt different.
Paly didn't just win, it dominated.
The Vikings touched the wall ahead of anyone else in the first eight swimming events, then broke a CCS record in the 400-yard freestyle relay to cap off the championship.
“The way I look at it is the trophy and the title belong to the school,” Dye said. “The recognition belongs to these athletes, and they've earned every moment of it.”
No athlete deserves more recognition than junior Ethan Harrington, who erased a previously untouchable mark in the 50-yard freestyle set in 2009 by Valley Christian's
Shayne Fleming.
His time of 19.73 stunned those in attendance.
“They exploded,” Dye said. “Everyone was talking about it. It was a very exhilarating moment. From the horn, he just exploded off that block and his speed, everything, just never stopped. It was phenomenal.
Harrington set school records to sweep the 50 and 100 free.
Fellow junior Arthur Balva took first in the 200 individual medley and 100 butterfly, while UC Santa Barbara-bound senior Eric Gabbassof stood atop the podium after the 200 and 500 free.
“The pool was actually warmer than the wind,” Dye said of his fourth turn in the traditional celebration. “It was fun.”
CCS Girls
St. Ignatius is a section champion for the first time.
And it didn't need to require more than a single champion, other than Jordan Ash in the 100 butterfly.
“It's very unique that you don't have multiple individual winners,” SI coach John Dahlz said. “I mean, I couldn't be prouder of what Jordan did. That's a big deal, especially as a sophomore winning a CCS title, but the fact that the other titles that we won were relays speaks volumes to the team. Even though swimming is kind of an individual sport, the sum of those pieces is kind of how you win a title.”
First-place finishers in the 200 medley and 200 free relays by less than a combined second proved to be the difference in the end.
“That was crucial,” Dahlz said.
Runner-up St. Francis took its best shot behind Penn-bound Abby Wickersham — the fastest girl in the CCS after sweeping the 50 and 100 free swims.
“That's something really special,” St. Francis coach Terry O'donnell said.
NCS Boys
In 1996, Tom Johnson jumped into the pool to celebrate a section championship at Northgate.
Twenty-six years later, Johnson repeated the feat — except this time he's the coach at De La Salle, while Northgate finished as runner-up.
“It was amazing,” Johnson said. “This is a oncein-a-lifetime group of kids. They're deep, they're committed, and I just have to say the culture at De La Salle is unbelievable. These are just amazing boys and I'm just lucky and blessed to be a part of it.”
After a long hiatus, Johnson took the deep dive in his fifth year at DLS.
COVID-19 denied the Spartans any chance at section titles the past two years, with no NCS finals held before 2019.
NCS Girls
Fourteen points separated Campolindo and Carondelet atop the standings.
Four sophomores combined to touch the wall ahead of anyone else in the 400 free relay to clinch the title for Campo.
The last two legs belonged two Jasmine Fok and Adriana Smith, who finished first in the 100 fly and 100 back, respectively.
What's next?
The CIF state championships will be held at Clovis West High through Saturday.
What do the CCS and NCS champions expect?
Dye: “It's just going to be an extremely fast meet and a lot of fun, a lot of energy.”
Dahlz: “I think state is going to be a celebration for our ladies.”
Johnson: “In some ways it's gravy. We can just let it rip and see how we do.”
Heidary: “I think it's an invaluable experience.”