2015 California Interscholastic Federation Central Coast Section Swimming & Diving Championships
- Dates: Friday, May 15, 2015-Saturday, May 16, 2015
- Location: Santa Clara International Swim Center
- Defending Champions: Girls – Monta Vista; Boys – Bellarmine (2014 results)
- Live Results: Available
- Championship Central
Although not as dramatic as in 2014, the 2015 CCS Championships provided exciting team races nonetheless. The Mitty girls and Bellarmine boys walked away with their respective titles as expected but given the competitive landscape, they had to do everything right to get there; a lot of strong teams were waiting in the wings, poised to step in at the first slip-up. Indeed, the battle for second place in the boys’ meet between arch-rivals Gunn and Palo Alto (Paly) came down to just four points, while three teams vied for the next spot: St Ignatius, Saint Francis, and Monta Vista. The girls’ results were more spread out but the meet was close enough that every swim mattered.
Girls’ Meet
| 2015 CCS – Girls | Finals | vs Psych | vs Prelims |
| Mitty | 250 | -40 | 12 |
| Palo Alto | 222 | -25 | -1 |
| Cupertino | 184 | 88 | -11 |
| Los Gatos | 176 | 5 | -11 |
| Pioneer | 153 | 10 | -3 |
| Mountain View | 131 | 9 | -4 |
| Sacred Heart | 130 | 9 | 9 |
| Gunn | 112 | -29 | 2 |
| Leland | 112 | -38 | -2.5 |
| Monta Vista | 89 | 44 | 4 |
The award for the most meteoric rise in the girls’ standings goes to Cupertino High School, who did an excellent job of outperforming their pre-meet seedings and nipping Los Gatos for a third-place team finish. The Pioneers kicked things off with a nice win in the 200 medley relay, coming within .5 of the meet record with 1:44.77 from Ivy Chen (26.67), Jenny Ma (28.97), Avalon Schultz (25.55), and Anna Rajaratnma (23.58). Pioneer High School (not to be confused with the Cupertino Pioneers) placed second with 1:45.73; Mitty improved several spots from their prelims finish to claim third in 1:45.78.
Senior Jennifer Campbell of Gunn cruised to a pair of victories in the distance free events. She went 1:46.49 to claim the 200 free title, while Lauren Green (1:48.21) and Sandra Soe (1:48.84), both from Pioneer, and Sara Shimomura of Mitty (1:48.93) slugged it out for second. Later Campbell won the 500 with 4:45.83 over Soe (4:49.34) and Shimomura (4:54.04).
Pioneer’s Green won a tight race in the 100 free, touching in 50.05 ahead of Castilleja’s Izzi Henig (50.11) and Harker’s Vivian Wang (50.41).
There were two races going on in the 200 IM: Harker freshman Wang edged Chloe Isleta of Presentation, 2:00.25 to 2:00.49 for the win, thanks to a strong second half; and Han Nguyen of Los Gatos came from behind to out-touch Cupertino’s Schultz, 2:03.49 to 2:03.67, for third place.
Palo Alto sophomore Grace Zhao successfully defended her two 2014 title with a 23.18 win in the 50 free and a 1:02.04 in the 100 breast. In the free she was followed by three freshmen: Leland’s Hannah Womer (23.42), Cathy Teng of Mitty (23.80), and Paly teammate Claire Lin (24.06). The breaststroke was actually the closer of the two races, with Cupertino’s Ma (1:02.63), Mitty’s Morganne MacKennan (1:02.79), and Stefanie Ting of Saragota (1:02.88) all bunched together.
In 1-meter diving, Paly’s Mimi Lin avenged her 2014 second-place finish to win with 482.60 points. Menlo-Atherton’s Paulsen sisters, Mia (452.20) and Talbot (411.45) were second and third, respectively.
Los Gatos senior Alex Grimes won a thrilling race in the 100 fly, coming back from third at the 50 wall to overcome sophomore Sophie Krivokapic-Zhou from Santa Clara (54.84) and Los Gatos’ Nguyen (55.57) with a winning 54.78. Krivokapic-Zhou took the 100 back in 53.92; Presentation’s Isleta was runner-up in 54.71 and Mountain View’s Vicky Wong took third with 55.63.
Paly’s Zhao (23.15), Kayleigh Svensson (24.52), Peyton Wang (24.71), and Lin (23.39) won the 200 free relay; Mitty (1:36.76) placed second, while Leland (1:37.11) eked out a third-place finish over Sacred Heart (1:37.21).
The meet ended with a thrilling 400 free relay, in which Mitty nearly overcame a 3.5-second deficit at the final exchange but ended up just .13 short, touching at 3:29.68 for second. First place went to Sacred Heart’s Kayla Holman (52.08), Matte Snow (51.76), Kathryn Bower (52.11), and Corinne Charlton (53.58) in 3:29.53.
Boys’ Meet
| 2015 CCS – Boys | Finals | vs Psych | vs Prelims |
| Bellarmine | 292 | 49 | -2 |
| Gunn | 214 | -18 | 14 |
| Palo Alto | 210 | -56 | -12 |
| St Ignatius | 158 | -16 | 3 |
| Saint Francis | 153 | -26 | -8 |
| Monta Vista | 150 | -13 | 29 |
| Saratoga | 88 | 10 | 20 |
| Serra | 86 | 26 | 5 |
| Valley Christian | 84 | 15 | 15 |
| Los Altos | 73 | -9 | -9 |
While it was clear after prelims that no one would challenge Bellarmine in their quest for 31, it was equally unclear who would wear the runner-up crown. Both Gunn and Paly had an equal shot at it, which in and of itself was probably a letdown for Paly; for the second year in a row the Vikings had a decent mathematical chance of dethroning Bellarmine at the top.
The Bells celebrate their 31st consecutive CCS win. Photo courtesy of Pat Kirk
If you are a Palo Alto fan, the writing may have been on the wall from the opening event when Paly and Gunn flip-flopped their prelims standings of third and fifth. Winning the 200 medley relay in 1:33.54, however, was Saint Francis with Benjamin Ho (22.82), Christian Yee Yanagishita (26.64), Gautham Bommannan (23.11), and Sean Elmurib (20.97). Monta Vista took second in 1:34.03, while Gunn and Bellarmine tied for third in 1:34.31. Paly finished fifth, just .13 back with 1:34.44.
The 200 free began as a race between Bellarmine seniors, and event favorites, Aidan Burns and Cooper Burrill, but ended with an upset victory for St. Ignatius junior Sheldon Boboff, who outsplit them both by a second over the back half. Boboff touched in 1:38.52; Burns was second with 1:39.04 and Burrill, third, with 1:39.22. Burns did win the 500, though, going 4:24.19 to outpace teammate Michael Messner (4:25.00). Jarod Hatch of Sobrato came in third at 4:31.61.
The only double event winner was junior Xiangfei Xie of Saratoga. He clocked a 1:46.40 to take the 200 IM title and 47.65 to win the 100 fly. Paly sophomore Alex Liang was runner-up in both races. He went 1:47.41 to beat Bellarmine’s Messner (1:48.32) and 48.29 to hold off Christopher Staka of Aptos by 1/100 in the fly.
Staka went on to win the 100 back in the tightest race of the meet. The Aptos junior came to the wall in 49.55, touching out Ho of Saint Francis (49.65), Lucca Martins of Monta Vista (49.71), and Gunderson’s Corey Gutierrez (49.82).
Juniors Albert Gwo of Los Altos and Ho of Saint Francis split the sprint freestyles: Gwo won the 50 in 20.48 and Ho, the 100 with 44.99 (Gwo was second in 45.03). Joao Ama of Gunn (21.32) and Thomas Reed of Bellarmine (21.34) rounded out the podium in the 50, while St. Ignatius’ Boboff (45.40) was third in the 100.
Heavy favorite Joe Kmak, a senior at Serra, claimed the title in the 100 breast with 55.05. Woodside’s Karl Arvidsson (56349) and Keven Shang of Monta Vista (57.19) came in second and third.
Santa Teresa junior Nick Mamola had a strong set of dives in finals, allowing him to surpass top-seeded Reed Merrit of Paly. Mamola scored 501.45 points to Merrit’s 496.60. Third place went to Kevin Pomeroy of Half Moon Bay (467.30).
Bellarmine won both free relays to seal their 31st consecutive team title. Burrill (21.17), Reed (20.95), Nathan Yates (21.28) and Burns (20.33) went 1:23.73 in the 200, while Burrill (46.47), Messner (45.88), David Farr (46.41), and Burns (44.73) combined for 3:03.49 in the 400.
