Boys and Girls Swim Teams Shine in CCS Championships

Gunn didn’t win its first girls swimming race Saturday at the Central Coast Section finals until late in the meet when sophomore Melanie Julia won the 100 breaststroke, the final individual race of the day.

But the dearth of first-place finishes mattered not at all as Gunn won its second consecutive CCS girls swimming championship at Santa Clara International Swim Center. 

The outcome was never in doubt. Gunn scored 288 points. St. Francis, which had two double winners with Nicole Oliva and Brooke Schaffer, was a distant second with 217, followed by Mitty (168) and Sacred Heart Prep (166).

“Depth is what it takes,’’ Gunn coach Bruce Smith said. “Being able to put people in as many events as possible is the key.’’

Gunn also got 29 points from divers Nina Janmyr and Shauntel Lim, who finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

It was the third CCS swimming championship in four years for Gunn, which won the boys title in 2016 in a historic upset that ended Bellarmine’s 31-year reign as CCS boys champions. 

The Bells were back in the winning circle on the boys side Saturday with 305 points. Sacred Heart Prep was second with 195, Gunn fourth (167) and Palo Alto fifth (143.5). 

So it’s back-to-back for the Gunn girls. Which one means the most?

“The majority of the team are seniors,’’ said Milan Hilde-Jones, who took second in the 200 individual medley and fourth in the 100 butterfly. “It means a lot to us to send us off on a good note, to finish strong.’’

The Titans started the day by taking second place in the first three events, the 200 medley relay, the 200 IM with Hilde-Jones and the 200 freestyle with Sarah Snyder. Then they really started racking up the points when Hilde-Jones, Snyder and Julia went 4-5-6 in the fly. Grace Tramack took fourth in the 500 free and the 200 free relay team placed second before Julia’s first-place finish in the breast. 

“That was an awesome swim, a well-earned win,’’ Smith said of Julia.

Then after the second-place finishes in the first two relays the Gunn team of Hilde-Jones, Tramack, Aubrey Cantrell and Snyder won the 400 free relay in a CCS meet record 3:22.90.

And the celebration began.

“It brings a smile to my face,’’ said Smith, Gunn’s first-year head coach. “These kids, it shows how hard they’ve worked. It’s a real tight-knit group.’’

Sacred Heart Prep's Kaia Li swam 2:02.56 to finish third behind Hilde-Jones (2:02.06) in the 200 IM. Castellija's Marie Williams was fifth.

Clara Schulz was fourth in the 50 free in a time of 23.95, SHP's Sloane Reinstein was sixth in the 100 free (51.24) and SHP's Margot Gibbons was fifth in the 500 free.

Sacred Heart Prep's 200 free relay team of Gibbons, Megan Ross, Gaby Ma and Reinstein finished third, right behind Gunn.

On the boys side, Gunn’s Jonathan Affeld went into the 200 IM final with the fastest prelim time, but finished second behind Harker’s Ethan Hu, who set a CCS record with a time of 1:44.62. Affeld was second in 1:46.94. Affeld came back to win the 500 free in 4:25.64.

“Ethan is a great swimmer, I wasn’t bummed about losing to him,’’ Affeld said. “I was proud of both of us for how we performed. In the 500, I wouldn’t say it was my best swim, but it was good enough to win. I know I have more in me.’’

Affeld's teammate Shogo Moridaira was fifth in the IM with a time of 1:51.21. Moridaira was third in the 100 breast.

SHP's Larsen Weigle finished third in the 50 free (21.11) and teammate Xaver Marco was sixth (21.37). Woodside's Justin Mills placed fourth in 21.35.

Weigle added a fifth-place finish in the 100 free. Menlo-Atherton's Austin Sparrow was right behind.

The Palo Alto boys scored big in diving with four competitors among the top 13 scoring 46 points. Jean Paul Ditto placed fourth, Max Valasek was fifth, Jack Callaghan sixth and Jack Mumford placed 13th.

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