2023 CIF SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- May 11-13, 2023
- Clovis West High School
- Fresno, CA
- SCY (25 yards)
- State champ central
- Psych Sheet
- SwimSwam Preview
- Live Results
Prelims of the 2023 CIF Championships is now in the books. Though it was just the prelims session, there was a ton of fast swimming on Friday, including five CIF meet records.
Santa Margarita sophomore Teagan O’Dell was exceptional in her prelims swims, clocking the top time in both her individual events, breaking an individual meet record, and helping two Santa Margarita top seeds for finals. O’Dell’s best race of the day came in the girls 100 back, where she roared to a new lifetime best of 51.11. It was a phenomenal swim for O’Dell, clipping her previous best of 51.45, which she set nine days prior. The performance also marks a new CIF meet record, with another chance to lower the mark again in finals.
O’Dell, 16, also rose in the all-time rankings for 15-16 girls with the swim. Her swim last week (51.45) put her in a tie for ninth all-time in the age group, while her performance in prelims on Friday kicked O’Dell all the way up to fourth. She’s still a little over a second off the NAG, which is held by Claire Curzan at 50.03, however, O’Dell is only 0.29 seconds away from moving up to third.
| Rank | Time | Swimmer | Meet |
| 1 | 50.03 | Claire Curzan | 2021 NC TAC ESSZ SC Sectional |
| 2 | 50.58 | Regan Smith | 2018 Winter Junior Nationals – West |
| 3 | 50.83 | Leah Shackley | 2023 MA PIAA District 6 Championships |
| 4 | 51.11 | Teagan O’Dell | 2023 CIF Swimming & Diving Championships |
| 5 | 51.13 | Maggie Wanezek | 2022 FL NCSA Spring Swimming Championships |
O’Dell also swam the 200 IM in prelims of Friday, where she once again clocked the top time of the morning by a massive margin. She swam a 1:55.04, marking the top time in the field by over four seconds. That swim came in just under a second off her lifetime best of 1:54.07, which O’Dell just swam last week as well. Of note, the meet record stands at 1:54.31, so O’Dell’s personal best is already faster than the meet record.
O’Dell was also a member of the Santa Margarita girls 200 free relay, which broke the meet record. O’Dell led the team off in a new 50 free personal best of 22.53, setting the tone early. Chloe Stinson, also a sophomore, then split 23.23 on the second leg, while senior Asia Kozan provided a 22.81 split on the third leg, and Gracyn Aquino, another sophomore, anchored in 22.62. They quartet put together a very speedy 1:31.19, cracking the meet record of 1:31.97, which was held by Santa Margarita from 2019.
Loyola senior Rex Maurer was incredible in prelims, especially in the boys 200 free. Maurer clocked the top time in the 200 free with a 1:33.58. While that was just off Maurer’s personal best of 1:33.54, which he just swam last week, the performance did still mark a new meet record, taking down the previous record of 1:34.13, which was held by Alexei Sancov from 2018.
Maurer then went on to swim a 4:20.99 in the boys 500 free, establishing the top time by a comfortable margin. We can expect Maurer to be much faster in finals of the 500 free, as he swam a 4:12.70 last week.
Palo Alto junior Ethan Harrington was great in prelims as well, taking down a meet record. Harrington led the field in the boys 50 free, clocking a 19.79 to touch as the only swimmer in the field under 20 seconds. While Harrington has a personal best of 19.45 in the event, his prelims performance was still enough to set a new meet record, taking down the previous mark of 19.85, which Harrington himself set last year.
Harrington then went on to claim the top seed for finals in the boys 100 free, roaring to a 43.59.
The other meet record that fell came in the boys 200 medley relay, where Santa Margarita sped to a 1:29.51. Humberto Najera led the team off in 22.25, and was followed by Nathan Wu with a 25.23 breast split, then Daniel Verdolaga in 21.55 on fly, and Ramon Jiang with a 20.48 free split. With the swim, they clipped the meet record of 1:29.63.
Najera had a great day individually as well. He posted the top time of the day in the boys 200 IM (1:47.45), as well as the 100 back (47.68).
TOP SEEDS FOR SATURDAY’S FINALS
- Girls 200 medley relay: St. Margarita (O’Dell, Christensen, Stinson, Lin) – 1:41.48
- Girls 200 free: Asia Kozan (St. Margarita) – 1:47.58
- Girls 200 IM: Teagan O’Dell (St. Margarita) – 1:55.04
- Girls 50 free: Gracyn Aquino (St. Margarita) – 22.68
- Girls 100 fly: Kelsey Zhang (Saratoga) – 53.32
- Girls 100 free: Ava DeAnda (Poly-Riverside) – 49.75
- Girls 500 free: Kathryn Hazle (University City) – 4:47.15
- Girls 200 free relay: St. Margarita (O’Dell, Stinson, Kozan, Aquino) – 1:31.19
- Girls 100 back: Teagan O’Dell (St. Margarita) – 51.11
- Girls 100 breast: Sarah Bennetts (Davis High) – 1:00.86
- Girls 400 free relay: St. Margarita (Kozan, Lee, Lin, Aquino) – 3:23.36
- Boys 200 medley relay: St. Margarita (Najera, Wu, Verdolaga, Jiang) – 1:29.51
- Boys 200 free: Rex Maurer (Loyola) – 1:33.58
- Boys 200 IM: Humberto Najera (St. Margarita) – 1:47.45
- Boys 50 free: Ethan Harrington (Palo Alto) – 19.79
- Boys 100 fly: Colin Geer (Poly-LB) – 47.06
- Boys 100 free: Ethan Harrington (Palo Alto) – 43.59
- Boys 500 free: Rex Maurer (Loyola) – 4:20.99
- Boys 200 free relay: Northgate (Wendler, McMillan, Kengla, Hallett) – 1:22.16
- Boys 100 back: Humberto Najera (St. Margarita) – 47.68
- Boys 100 breast: Daniel Li (San Marino) – 52.88
- Boys 400 free relay: Loyola (Maurer, Brown, Liu, Cahill) – 3:00.24
