Boys’ swimming competes at Leagues

At the League meet held on May 1-2, diver Lukas Andreasen, eight individual event qualifiers and five relay-only swimmers made the cut for CCS, and the team placed fifth out of seven schools. 

Cameron Borch qualified for 200- and 500-meter freestyle, Nikhil Chakravarthy for 100-meter backstroke, Michael Lee for 200-meter individual medley (IM) and 100-meter breaststroke, Bradley Newton for 200-meter and 500-meter freestyle, Sasha Samoilov for 200-meter IM and 50-meter freestyle, Randy Tsai for 200-meter IM and 100-meter backstroke, Patrick Xiao for 200-meter freestyle, and Harrison Yang for 100 meter breaststroke.

In action before the League meet, the Falcons made a comeback with a 128-55 win against Homestead on March 28 and a 103-77 win against Los Altos High School on April 25 after previously losing to Monta Vista High School 121-55 on April 25 and Los Gatos High School on April 11.

Junior Michael Zheng, who swims backstroke and butterfly, attributes all the wins to members who are well-known in clubs.

“It’s just that we, like some schools, have all the fast club swimmers, such as [freshman] Bradley Newton and [sophomore] Randy Tsai, in an area,” Zheng said. 

  Ultimately, the team is aiming to have as many members qualify for CCS as possible.

According to Lee, more swimmers at CCS also can prove to be effective in providing moral support for the team.

“CCS is a competition between all the schools for points. You need people to qualify in the top 16 of their events to score points, though,” Lee said. “However, it's generally better overall to have more swimmers at CCS, if only for moral support.”

Chakravarthy, who made CCS on backstroke, said that he felt elated by his performance.

“When I found out that I made CCS, feeling good was an understatement,” Chakravarthy said. “My heart was beating, I couldn’t stop smiling … I felt so happy. I just hope that I could achieve the same results at CCS.”

CCS trials will be held on May 10 at the Santa Clara Swim Center, and CCS finals will be held at the same place on May 11.