The Palisades High School swim team took over the East L.A. College pool on Friday, May 12, and in the process destroyed their City Section competition. The girls won their eighth consecutive title and the boys their fifth straight title.
Pali girls won easily with 538 points, well beyond Cleveland with 286. On the boys side, Pali totaled 554 points and Granada Hills was second with 399.
“We’re faster than we’ve ever been,” said Palisades Head Coach Maggie Nance.
The team is so fast that it wasn’t a question of winning, but rather how many City records the swimmers would break (five) and how many swimmers would qualify for the state meet in Clovis on May 19-20.
The girls medley relay team of Sophia Wlodek, Leah Timmerman, Dora Seggelke and Darby Green set a new record (1:47.44) and their male counterparts—Jon, Alex and Greg Havton and Lucas Lacy—also set a new record (1:35.68).
Senior Kian Brouwer, who will swim for Santa Barbara next year, lowered the record in the 200-yard freestyle (1:38.30). He joined Hunter Loncar, Greg Haverton and Ray Yoo in the 200-yard freestyle relay and they set a new record (1:25.23). Alex Hav- ton also broke the record in the 100-yard breaststroke (57.67).
The top two finishers in each event automatically qualified for the state meet.
For the girls, junior Seggelke took first in the 200-yard freestyle (1:54.29) and first in the 500-yard freestyle (5.01.44). Timmerman, a senior, took second in the 200- yard individual medley (2:10.84) and first in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:05.78).
Seniors Alex and Jon Haverton were first and second in the 200-yard IM (1:54.93 and 1:57.10). Ray Yoo, a junior, was second in the 50-yard freestyle (21.21) and first in the 100-yard freestyle (46.68).
In addition to Brouwer’s win in the 100- yard butterfly (51.00), teammate Greg Havton took second (51.43). In the 100-yard backstroke, brother Jon took first (52.91).
PaliHi boys and girls 400-yard freestyle relays both won. The girls went 3:44.27, but Pali holds the existing record, set in 2015 (3:34.97). The boys were trying to break their own record from last year (3:07.15) but finished in 3:07.66.
At the city prelims on May 9, PaliHi had qualified three and four swimmers in many events.
For example, in the girls 200-yard freestyle, in addition to Seggelke taking first, sophomore Grace Winter and freshman Amanda Kim placed sixth and seventh. In the boys 200-yard freestyle, in addition to Brouwer’s first place finish, Loncar, a senior, took third, junior Sammy Speiser took sixth and freshman Andrew Planting took seventh.
“We were deep in every event,” Nance said.
Does this mean that PaliHi will be a threat in Clovis?
“The meet is the same time as Pali’s prom,” Nance said. “Many of my seniors have already said they’re going to prom.” She explained that many swimmers planned to continue the sport in college and will have more meets, but will only have one senior prom. She also said it wasn’t likely the school was going to change the prom anytime in the future, nor will the date for state swim meet change. To see complete results, visit cif-la.org.
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