Flames, Tigers make a splash
Dark clouds hovered over the Tokay High swimming pool late Saturday morning going into the early afternoon hours.
But the Lodi and Tokay swim programs had many bright moments at the finals of the Tri-City Athletic League championships, which included a league title and records broken. The trials were held Friday and Thursday.
The Lodi boys squad capped a perfect season in league events, which included a 5-0 record in dual meets, by winning the tournament with 350 points. St. Mary’s took second place with 241, and Lincoln third at 238. Tokay took fourth place with 118 points.
“What an incredible meet for the boys,” said Lodi coach John Griffin. “They were on fire in every race.”
For the girls, Lodi took second place with 262 points, while Lincoln captured the title with 337 points. The Flames went 3-2 in the dual-meet season. Tokay took fifth place with 150 points. Two of the Flames’ top swimmers in sophomore Maddie Woznick and Gianni Pitto, both of whom competed at the CIF State Championships last spring, made a splash at the tournament on Saturday.
Winners for the Lodi boys were sophomore Aidan Scott in the 200 IM at 2:04.78. He also swam to a firstplace finish in the 100 backstroke at 56.46.
Stevenson took the 100 freestyle at 48.01. In the 100 breaststroke, Stevenson took second place at 1:00.60. “Only a freshman,” said Griffin of Stevenson. The Flames’ relay teams also made a splash at the league tournament. The 400 freestyle team, which features Scott, Brosnan Elrod, Sam Griffith and Stevenson won at 3:26.11.
“The four guys were just having a blast,” said Griffin of the freestyle team. “Just enjoyed every minute of it.”
The 200 medley relay squad, which had Scott, Stevenson, Will Kim and Alexander Elrod, took second place at 1:42.89. Pitto, a senior, won the 200 individual medley at 2 minutes, 6.62 seconds, which breaks her own record set at last year’s league meet at 2:07. In addition, she won the 100 breaststroke at 1:03.78, breaking her own record at 1:04.23 set last year. Pitto had sprinted out to leads in both of her races. Pitto ended the regular season of her illustrious high school aquatics career taking first place in both events in league meets and championships.
“She’s still got sections,” said Griffin, referring to the Sac-Joaquin Section trials and finals that will be held at Tokay’s pool toward the end of next week.
Woznick, only a sophomore, set the new record in the 50 freestyle at 23.54 seconds and the 100 freestyle at 51.50.
From the start of the 100 freestyle to finish, Woznick led. In the first lap, Tokay’s Nicole Iturraran stayed within reach of Woznick. But the next lap had Woznick swimming faster, thus extending her lead.
Donning a tech suit, which helps swimmers improve movement and stays closer to the person’s skin, in her races, Woznick credits the suit to her elite performances.
“It was planning on me going faster,” Woznick said. “I knew I wanted to get close to my (previous) time.”
Woznick and Pitto, along
with teammates in junior Allison Coughlin and senior Nicole Coon, were part of the Flames’ medley relay team that won and broke the league mark at 1:50.00. Lincoln had the previous record in 2015 at 1:50.69.
The Flames 400 freestyle relay team, which consisted of Melissa Celli, McKenzie Campbell, Hope Lorentzen and Karley Bussman, won at 3:43.03.
Earning a berth to the section’s meet for Lodi was Coughlin, who took second place in the 100 fly at 1:00.74. Coon was second in the 100 freestyle at 55.66 seconds. Celli took second place in the 500 freestyle at 5:31.44.
Lodi girls’ 200 freestyle
team took fourth place at 1:52.39, although already surpassed the section’s qualifying time at 2:05. The quartet on that team was Woznick, Coon, Coughlin and Pitto.
Tokay boys’ success came from one of their individuals in senior Julio Murguia. Competing in the 200 freestyle, he won at 1:45.97, which is a new school record, according to Tokay girls water polo coach Courtney Porter who is helping the boys and girls swim teams this spring. Murguia also won the 500 freestyle at 4:52.01. He has qualified to compete in both events at the section meet.
For the Tokay girls, Kathrine McLain won the 200
freestyle at 1:58.73.
The Lodi boys 200 freestyle medley team, consisting of Braden Acosta, Alexander Elrod, Sam Griffith and Brosnan Elrod, earned a section berth with a second place finish at 1:34.80. The qualifying time is 1:50.
Next stop for the Flames and Tigers’ swimmers who had qualifying times that were met at the tournament or earlier in the season is the section’s swimming trials and finals that will also take part Thursday, May 10 through Saturday, May 12 at Tokay’s pool.