Records were broken and stars shined at the Foothill League swim finals in the Santa Clarita Aquatics Center on Thursday as multiple swimmers qualified for their placement in the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section championships.
Valencia head coach Matthew Sheridan has much to be proud of as his Vikings showed consistency all season and performed when it counts.
“The Foothill League swim finals are always very fun and competitive,” Sheridan said. “We have a lot of good teams and a lot of strong swimmers. Any single event can be the difference between winning league and not winning league.”
Although the Valencia boys’ team didn’t end the year in first for the Foothill League title, the Vikings ended the season in second and missed out on the league championship by four points.
The West Ranch Wildcats claimed the Foothill League title for the second consecutive season.
West Ranch swim and dive coach Kearsten Livingstone spoke on the team’s achievements, and added on the Wildcats’ outlook on CIF and the goal to make a deep run.
“This year, we set a unique goal: to defend our clean sweep from last season, with all four divisions finishing in first place at the championship meet. It was a goal we established from the very beginning, and one we worked toward consistently throughout the season,” she said.
“I’m really excited for CIF this year. We have several relays ranked in the top eight, along with multiple individual events in the top eight. Sophomore Emma Hussein is seeded first in the 200 IM and second in the 100 breaststroke. On the boys’ side, sophomore Jace Lloyd is seeded third in the 100 backstroke, and junior Emma Piltzer is seeded seventh in the 50 freestyle,” Livingstone added.
Despite the second-place result in the finals, Sheridan feels confident in the fact that the boys’ side did their best and set themselves up for years to come.
The girls’ side, although Sheridan said it was a small team, performed well to give Valencia High School some individual championships.
Tori Yamamura, who’s a commit to the University of Missouri, broke her own league records in the meet and took the aquatics center by storm.
“In the 100 fly this year, she broke her own league record to ‘three-peat’ as league champion in that event with a 52.39,” Sheridan said.
Sheridan added that, this season, Yamamura earned an automatic qualifier in the 100 backstroke instead of the 200 meter in which she typically competes.
“I love seeing her try new things and experience success — that’s not easy to do, but she consistently finds ways to make hard things look easy,” he said.
Senior Aubrey Martin, who’s a commit to Colorado State University, secured wins in the 50 freestyle and 100 free competition and secured her spot in CIF.
“She had a lot of strong contenders in her races and a bullseye on her back as the top returning finalist in the 100 but was able to hold them all off to win both the 50 free and 100 free,” Sheridan said. “That kind of internal motivation is rare, and that’s one of the things that makes her exceptional. She should have a good showing at CIF.”
With a second-place Foothill League finish and swimmers who broke records, momentum is with the Vikings as the CIF Prelims are set to begin on Wednesday at Mt. San Antonio College.
Sheridan is looking to make a deep run in CIF Southern Section and have his swimmers do the best possible to qualify for the state meet.
“As the Vikings head into CIF this week, we’re looking to keep our momentum and continue putting up some great times,” he said. “We’ve got some chances to qualify for the state meet and earn some solid points at the Southern Section meet, and we’ll hope to do just that.”
