On Wednesday, March 26, all levels of University High School’s (UHS) boys and girls swim teams won at home against Woodbridge High School (WHS) in the first league dual meet of the season. The girls won 295-199 and the boys won 362-132, a combined score of 657-331.
Varsity boys won overwhelmingly over WHS’ Varsity team with a score of 126-44. They won 10 events out of 11, going first, second and third in the 200 IM, 100 Fly, 100 Free, 500 Free, 100 Back and 100 Breast as well as going first and second in the 50 Free and 200 Medley Relay. Michael Schiffer (Sr.) earned his CIF Automatic time in the 100 Breast with a time of 59.52, earning 10 points for UHS overall. Alejandro Ortiz (Jr.) also won 10 points.
Varsity girls struggled to win against WHS’ Varsity, ultimately winning 87-83. Annie Tran (Sr.) was the only individual to win an event by placing first in the 100 Fly, barely missing the CIF Automatic time by .03 seconds. The only other event in which UHS won was the 200 Free Relay. High individual scorers included Tran with 10 points, Megan Sirijariyavat (Sr.) with 7 points, and Anne Jang (Fr.) with 7 points.
Junior Varsity (JV) boys defeated WHS 132-38 and won all 11 events. They swept the 200 IM, 100 Fly and 100 Free as well as placing first and second in the 200 Medley, 200 Free, 50 Free, 500 Free, 200 Free Relay, 100 Back and 100 Breast. Spencer Kubit (Sr.), Benjamin Gomez (Fr.), and Jonathon Havton (Fr.) all won both of their individual events to score 12 points each.
JV girls won 10 out of 11 events, defeating WHS 119-51. They placed first, second and third in the 100 Fly and 100 Back and first and second in the 200 Medley Relay, 200 IM, 50 Free, 200 Free Relay, and 400 Free Relay. Both Sophia Bajak (So.) and Kamilla Szabados (Jr.) placed first in their two events, each earning 12 points.
Open girls won 6 out of their 11 events to defeat WHS 89-65. They placed first, second and third in the 100 IM and 50 Breast and placed first and second in the 200 Free Relay. Yising Kao (Jr.) and Gauvri Nathwani (Fr.) each earned 10 points.
Open boys defeated WHS 104-50, winning all 10 of their events, sweeping the 100 Breast and taking the top two spots in the 200 Medley Relay, the 50 Free, the 100 Free, the 50 Back and the 50 Breast. Top scorers included Andrew Rasla (Jr.) who won both of his events to earn 12 points.
On Thursday, March 20, and Saturday, March 22, the UHS girls swim team competed at the Millikan Relays at Capistrano Valley High School, ultimately placing second in Varsity and fifth in Frosh-Soph. The teams competed at preliminaries on Thursday with every relay team except for the Frosh-Soph 200 Fly placing in the top 16 to return for finals on Saturday. On Saturday, the Varsity team placed second with 184 points behind Santa Margarita High School with 210 points. The Frosh-Soph team placed 5th.
The Varsity team of 14 girls earned 184 points to earn second out of the 25 teams that competed. The Varsity 200 Fly team ofTran, Sirijariyavat, MaryKate Colao (Sr.), and Kathy Lim (Jr.) placed first with a time of 1:46.06 in finals. Colao, one of this year’s co-captains, said, “For the 200 fly it was really cool to win a relay at a varsity level with my friends. It’s one of my favorite swim memories!”
Varsity also placed well in other events, placing third in the 300 Free, fourth in the 200 Breast and 200 Medley, and fifth in the 200 Back.
Colao said, “I was really proud of our girls team since going into it, we thought we were going to place maybe in the top 5. Getting second really proves how great we are!”
Tran, the other co-captain this year, said, “We honestly didn’t have too much pressure as an underdog, so we just went there and had fun. Coming in 2nd overall for Varsity and winning the 200 fly relay was an extra bonus. All the ladies stepped up and raced really well. Some of them really surprised us with how fast they went.”
The Frosh-Soph team placed 5th out of 23 teams, placing fourth in the 200 Medley, fifth in the 200 Back, and seventh in the 300 Free and 200 Breast. “I think that we did the best we could and gave it our all as a team,” said Kerianne Stephan (So.).
“It was a really great way to start the season and I’m really proud that I get to be part of this team,” said Jang.
The boys team will compete at the Millikan Relays on Tuesday, March 25 and Saturday, March 29. Both teams will compete in their first league dual meet against WHS on Wednesday, March 26.
This was the first league dual meet for both teams. The boys team will compete at the Finals of the Millikan Relays on Saturday, March 28 and both teams will compete again at Beckman High School on Wednesday, April 2.
By ELYSIA OUYANG
Staff Writer