By RUTUJA SABNIS
Staff Writer
After several swimmers qualified for PCL Finals in the Preliminary, University, with 2195 points, placed fifth in Pacific Coast League Finals behind Northwood but in front of Woodbridge.  Girls Varsity placed fourth with 923 points, and Boys Varsity placed second with 1272 points.
This meet at Beckman High School concluded the 2016-2017 swim season. For many of the seniors not swimming in college, this was the last swim meet of their lives. “In the beginning of this season, things were kind of rocky…everyone was just doing their own thing,” Captain Matthew Strong (Sr.) said, “Our unity has gotten much better as the season has progressed because of team activities and bonding events.” Benjamin Gomez (Sr.) and Alex Hao (Jr.) achieved an automatic CIF cut time for Division III, with 53.75 and 54.04 seconds for 100 butterfly. Swimming a 1:49 in the 200 freestyle, George Horvath got a CIF consideration time in Division I CIF.
For many swimmers, the last swim meet meant satisfaction. Team Captain Vanessa Yang (Sr.) said, “I have two words [to describe how I feel]: thank goodness.”
Although the season is now over, underclassmen wanting to qualify for the swim team still have much work to do. “We’ve gone through hell and back but I definitely think we need more depth of training,” Team Captain Celine Nie (Sr.) said, “We have a lot of open girls who did really great this year but I think we need to develop them faster and better and make sure we have the mentality to move them up to varsity.”
CIF Prelims and Finals will be held May 11 through May 13. State Championships will be held in Fresno from May 19 to May 20 for the swimmers who qualified.