In their last swim meet before Foothill League prelims, West Ranch and Valencia battled it out on Wednesday.
Splitting the meet, the West Ranch boys came out victorious with a 98-72 win, while the Valencia girls came out with a similar 99-71 win over the West Ranch girls.
“All of my kids swam really well,” said Valencia head coach Kathy Rosenast. “The girls really stepped up and most of the boys swam their best times. It’s just one of those meets where your best times don’t get you the win. Overall, it was a fun meet.”
The Valencia girls standouts on the day were underclassmen Izabella Adame, who won first place in the 500-yard freestyle (5:17.30) and 100-yard breaststroke (1:05.98) and Jin Young Yi taking home first in the 100-yard backstroke. Both of them also competed and won in group events: 200-yard medley relay (Adame, Yi, Allison Cho, Emma Hiett) as well as the 200-yard freestyle relay (Adame, Yi, Allison Cho, Julian Unas)
“The thing about Izabella is she is willing to swim anything,” Rosenast said. “An all-around exceptional swimmer that loves to swim and you can tell through her performance today.”
“Jin came in knowing what she wanted and did it,” Rosenast said about Yi. “She has been putting in the work all year long and it shows.”
West Ranch’s Sophia Marci took home three first-place finishes on the day in the 200-yard freestyle (1:56.46), 100-yard butterfly (59.19) and group the group event 400-yard freestyle relay (Marci, Reagan Nibarger, Angelene Estiandan, Kelsey Choe).
On the boys side, it was a little more lopsided as the only winner on the day for the Vikings was Ronit Shresta, taking home first in the 100-yard butterfly (53.19).
“Ronit was within a touch for every race,” Rosenast said. “To watch him in the 100 butterfly, he knew he had to win and when push came to shove, he never gave up.
Ted Hwang took home four first-place finishes for the Wildcats on Wednesday, winning the 200-yard individual medley (1:57.65) and the 100-yard breaststroke (1:00.52) and taking first place in group events, 200-yard medley relay (Hwang, Cade Brower, Charlie Morici, Tommy Weber) and 200-yard freestyle (Hwang, Rijker Hutson, Tommy Weber, Michael Andrizzi).
Hwang’s teammate in the 200-yard freestyle, Michael Andrizzi, also had a good day, winning the 50-yard freestyle (21.64) and 100-yard freestyle (46.97), as well as taking home first in another group event, 400-yard freestyle relay (Andrizzi, Rijker Hutson, Joshua Alvarez, Ethan Holroyd).
Both teams have some time to rest as they will face off against the rest of the Foothill League on May 1 in league prelims.
