Swimming in their last dual meet of the Foothill League regular season, Canyon and Hart swim faced off against each Thursday afternoon at the Santa Clarita Aquatic Center.
Coming out victorious, the Indians’ took the last dual meet from the Cowboys with the girls winning 140-29 and the boys winning 118-50.
But this meet was different. Hart head coach Steve Neale changed things up, pairing the two sister duos, Taylor and Taryn Toledo and Hope and Gracie Hill together in three races.
Taking first in the 200-yard medley relay and placing second in the 200-yard freestyle medley relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay, the Toledo sisters treasured the moment.
“It was a cool experience because it was the last dual meet before league prelims and Taryn and I don’t normally get to swim together,” Taylor said. “So it was cool to be able to share that with her before she goes off to college.”
For the Hart boys, Dawson Waage took home four first-place finishes in the 200-yard medley relay (Waage, Ryan Sevidal, Jonathan Quick, Kyle Brill), 200-yard freestyle relay (Waage, Ryan Sevidal, Luke Christensen, Derian Theberge).
He also claimed first in the 100-yard backstroke (57.13) and 50-yard freestyle (22.41).
Senior Cade Klement placed first in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:02.60) and finished second behind Quick (52.87) in the 100-yard butterfly (53.80 with Division 1 Consideration).
Klement is part of a versatile group of Hart boys swimmers.
“Most of us are dynamic and flexible in all events,” Klement said. “We can do stroke, IM and distance, so that helps us all, especially in relays.”
Testing the Hart boys was Canyon’s Kevin Childs, who won the 200-yard individual medley (1:59.36 with Division 1 Consideration), the 500-yard freestyle (4:46.07 with Division 1 Consideration) as well as the last race of the day, the 400-yard freestyle relay (Childs, Nathan Dellarda, George Monday, Jordan Krestul) by swimming anchor and closing about a two-second gap.
“I was a little tired at that point from the 500 (freestyle),” Childs said about the come-from-behind win. “… I just saw the rest of my team cheering and giving me support and I swam the best time that I’ve gotten all season.”
The next time the two teams will swim will be in Foothill League Prelims on Tuesday, May 1st
“Hart is a great school to swim against,” said Canyon head coach Darren Steiff. “I’m really excited about our varsity boys in the 200 medley and the 400 free relay. We dropped times in both with Kevin (Childs) leading the way. He’s a fierce competitor and he really motivates our team and we are really looking forward to prelims and finals next week.”
