Head Coaches: Michael Allegretti, Christian Bonner and Kristen Thomson
Last year’s record: 1-7
Recap: The small number of participants meant there were no JV teams, leading to automatic defeats in those races. Even when varsity swimmers won, the team would still lose as a whole. Juniors Taewon Yim and Kelsey Zhang qualified for states, but Zhang dropped out to focus on training for the U.S. Olympic trials. Yim placed 31st in the 200-meter freestyle and 22nd in the 500-meter freestyle.
Key Matchups: Palo Alto, Los Gatos and Homestead
Star swimmers: senior Yusuf Tokuz, juniors Taewon Yim and Kelsey Zhang, sophomores Kevin Chen and Lauren Fanucchi and freshman Aimee Sun
Key losses to graduation: Meher Bhatnagar, Mitchell Chen and Amaris Charton
League: De Anza
Prognosis:
Despite losing nine seniors from last year, the team enters this season with 38 swimmers on the roster, 17 of whom are freshmen. Sun’s individual events, for example, include the 200-yard IM and the 100-yard breaststroke, the latter of which qualified her to CCS at the March 7 meet against Homestead. With so many underclassmen joining the team, both girls and boys have JV teams this year, giving the Falcons a much better shot at winning meets.
“All the freshmen know what they’re doing, and they’re pretty fast. They all look pretty strong themselves, and I’m excited to see how fast they go,” senior Yusuf Tokuz said.
The outlook on this season is brighter than last season, with swimmers and coaches alike seeing a lot of potential in both new and returning members.
“We should be a little bit stronger this season,” coach Michael Allegretti said. “We have a lot of really strong returning players from last year who are now juniors and sophomores.”
Despite losing many seniors to graduation, the team still has stars like Zhang, an elite national-level swimmer who committed to UC Berkeley’s Division 1 swimming program last October. As a freshmen, she placed first in 500-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke in SCVAL and placed first at CIF state swimming for the 100-meter butterfly, swimming a time of 52.94 seconds.
This year, all five seniors — Kirby Fung, Alyssa Madeira, Emma Moore, Yusuf Tokuz and Brandon Wang — have taken on leadership roles as team captains. They assist new teammates by guiding them through the flow of a meet, leading them through team cheers and serving as valuable resources for support. Captains also organize dinners and get-togethers outside of practice to keep up team spirit.
The team practices on Mondays through Thursdays for two hours a day after school, 3-5 p.m. on Blue Days and 4-6 p.m. on Red Days. The practices are typically split into a 40-minute warm-up, followed by a drill set focused on technique and concluding with the pace set, which is often the most difficult set. Both boys and girls practice together but compete separately at meets each Friday.
The girls are especially strong this year and can realistically hope to make the states meet, while the boys’ team aims to make the finals at CCS.
“I expect to see a stronger performance over last season,” Allegretti said. “I think we’ll be a little bit more competitive in our dual meets as we go forward. I’m excited to see where a lot of the freshmen are at as they gain more proficiency in their strokes and see where they can develop going through the season.”
The team had its first meet at home on Feb. 28 vs. Lynbrook. With CCS qualifying times, Yim swam the 200-yard free with a time of 1:46.15; Zhang swam the 200-yard IM in 2:06.71; Sun swam the 100 breaststroke in 1:07.27 and Chen swam the 200-yard IM with a time of 1:59.87. The boys won 81-80 while the girls’ team lost 102-68. At their second meet on March 7 vs. Homestead, the boys’ team lost 127-48 and the girls’ team lost 112-69. Yim swam the 100-yard free with a CCS time of 48.78, and Fanucchi swam the 500-yard free with a CCS time of 5:24.51. The team takes on Palo Alto in their next away meet on March 28.
