Courtesy of TogaSwims
The girls relay team receives their 3rd place award in the 200-yard medley at CCS.With fists raised high and voices echoing off the pool walls at Independence High, members of the swim team huddled into a tight circle to shout their pre-meet cheer. From May 8-10, swimmers hyped each other at the CCS swim meet, sometimes leading to strong and winning performances.
Under the guidance of coaches Kristen Thomson, Michael Allegretti and Christian Bonner, multiple athletes qualified to the state championships. From standout individual races to powerful relay victories, the team’s performance at CCS made waves throughout the entire competition.
In total, the girls and boys teams competed in three relay events each, qualifying for finals in two of the three events. The girls placed third in the 200-yard medley relay and 12th in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Their time in the medley relay of 1:46.88 broke the school record in the event. Their performance earned the four swimmers — juniors Kelsey Zhang and Emma Geng, sophomore Lauren Fanucchi and freshman Aimee Sun — qualifications to the state championships at Clovis High, which took place on May 15-16.
The boys relay team — seniors Yusuf Tokuz and Brandon Wang, junior Taewon Yim and sophomore Kevin Chen — placed 13th in both the 200-yard freestyle relay and in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, they beat a 16-year-old school record twice — first in their preliminary race on May 8 with a time of 1:29.00, and again during finals on May 10 with a time of 1:28.96.
Swimmers also shined individually. Yim, Tokuz and Chen as well as Zhang, Fanucchi and Sun all qualified individually for CCS. However, because Zhang, a star swimmer who has already committed to UC Berkeley’s team, chose not to attend the state meet, senior Emma Moore went in her place.
“It was great of Emma to be able to step in for the team when it mattered and to have her first experience at states before her graduation,” Geng said.
Zhang’s decision to miss the state meet came as a result of becoming sick the day before CCS. However, she still decided to attend the CCS meet, as it was a while away from her most important upcoming meet — the nationals meet on June 3.
“The decision was really complicated, and it took a lot of thinking and communication between the coaches and me,” Zhang said. “But with me being sick I realized it was crucial for my body to rest and recover before nationals, which was two weeks away.”
Despite this, Zhang still managed to place first in both of her individual events at CCS — the 200-yard individual medley, and the 100-yard butterfly. She secured the medal with a 1:58.08 time for the medley, and 52.56 for the butterfly.
Of the four girls who went to the state meet, only Fannuchi and Sun qualified for individual events, while all four — Moore, Fannuchi, Sun, and Geng — qualified in the 200-yard medley relay. The meet consisted of preliminaries on May 16 and finals on May 17.
Although none of the girls qualified for the finals, Fanucchi, who swam in the 100-yard butterfly and 500-yard freestyle events, was able to drop half a second off of her best time, and Sun narrowly missed out on qualifying to the 100-meter breaststroke finals.
While swimming tends to be considered an individual sport, Sun and Chen emphasized the significance of having the company of a team. In particular, Chen attributes much of the team’s success to their strong support for each other, created as a result of the countless team bonding activities planned by the seniors.
“Our pre-meet cheer always pumped everyone up to do their best at the dual meet, and although we may not be the biggest team in the league, we are definitely the most spirited,” Chen said.
Group meetups such as a team dinner, pre-CCS breakfast and many more fun events contributed to the strong team bond. Additionally, during events like the relay, swimmers are brought together as they cheer on their teammates.
“The season went really well. It was very exciting meeting and swimming with new people,” Sun said. “I’m very excited for the next season and I hope that it can be just as fun.”
