The swim team participated in the CIF San Joaquin sections (SJS) in Sacramento May 5–8 with five swimmers as their last swim meet of the season.
Senior Samantha Pantoja was the only swimmer to qualify for the Varsity times at Sections, with her main events 100 yards butterfly and 100 yards backstroke. Pantoja shows her hard work and passion towards swimming by training with the school swim team as well as with a club team in Merced.
“I would dedicate my time to go to morning practice with Ms. Todd before school and in the afternoons I traveled to Merced to train with the club team,” stated Pantoja. Her goal for the meet was to finish her last Sections strong with fast swims and show her hard work in the pool.
In order to compete at Sections, athletes must swim faster than the Sections qualifying times for their event. The girls compete on the first day of Sections and the boys on the second day, the last day is for finals. The top eight swimmers for each event qualify for the finals and 9th- 16th place swimmers swim in the constellation finals.
Sophomores Oliver Jou, Victor Marcedo Garcia JakeRyan Torres and Ian Villalvaso qualified for the 200 yard freestyle and 200 yard medley relay for the Sections. In a 200 yard relay each athlete swims 50 yards. In the 200 yard medley relay, Villavaso started the relay with 50 yards of backstroke, followed by Mareco Garcia swimming the 50 yards breaststroke, Jou swimming the 50 yards butterfly and finally anchored by Torres with the 50 yards freestyle.
“My goals for sections were for our swimmers to swim their best and get a wonderful experience out of swimming with top level athletes in the section,” stated Varsity Swim Coach Ms. Kelly Todd.
Todd helped the swimmers prepare for sections throughout the season by pushing them to work hard by increasing yardage, decreasing intervals and working on technique. As a final preparation for Sections, the swimmers did a taper where they reduced their workload to rest for work, and at the end of the season did a taper where they reduced their workload to rest for the main meet of the season.
“I am so proud of our swimmers and their amazing accomplishments throughout the season, making sections is quite the accomplishment. I am a very proud coach and these athletes are amazing,” Todd expressed her gratitude towards her athletes.
The Sections wrapped up the meets for the swim season this year. The swim team had awards on May 18 to recognize the swimmers for their hard work and accomplishments throughout the season.
