2016 SCVAL De Anza Division Championships at Gunn High School
The Palo Alto High School girls and Gunn High School boys successfully defended their respective SCVAL-DAD titles at this year’s championship meet in the Gunn High School pool on April 29, 2016.
Girls’ Meet
Having lost the title to Monta Vista two years ago, the Paly girls rose back to the top of the division in 2015 and remained there this year, winning two relays and three individual events.
Team scores
- Palo Alto 425
- Monta Vista 345
- Gunn 331
- Los Gatos 288
- Saratoga 242
- Los Altos 203
- Homestead 179
Paly kicked off the action by crushing the old meet record in the 200 medley relay. Zoe Lusk (25.74), Grace Zhao (28.09), Katie Francis (26.12), and Peyton Wang (24.48) combined for 1:44.43, taking more than 3 seconds off the 2015 mark set by Gunn. Gunn came in second, 4.4 seconds back, and Los Altos placed third.
Zhao was a double event winner for the Vikings: she took the 50 free over teammate Claire Lin (23.63 to 24.25), then lowered her own meet record in the 100 breast by .15 with a 1:01.96. Zhao also led off Paly’s first-place 200 free relay in 23.22. Lusk went 1:52.26 to win the 200 free by 2 seconds over Gunn’s Ashley Stahmer (1:54.22); she also added a second-place finish in the 100 fly (56.67) to her point total for the day.
Han Nguyen of Los Gatos earned a pair of victories, going 2:04.13 in the 200 IM and 55.38 in the 100 fly. Gunn’s Grace Tramack edged Los Altos’ Hana Brett, 2:09.06 to 2:09.28, for second place in the 200 IM, then went on to win the 500 free in 5:03.60, again coming from behind and getting the touch thanks to a strong final 50. In the 500 it was Paly’s Sofia Sigrist who was unable to hold off Tramack; she finished second with 5:03.82.
Other individual event winners were Milan Hilde-Jones of Gunn in the 100 free (52.55) and Danielle Carter of Los Altos in the 100 back (57.03).
Mimi Lin of Paly broke a 2006 school record, winning the one-meter diving event with 543.80 points. Riley Fujioka of Los Altos and Demetra Williams of Monta Vista were second and third with 517.00 and 497.20 points, respectively.
Boys’ Meet
Gunn beat cross-town rival Paly for the second year in a row, this time by a margin of 144 points. In a rather spread-out field, Gunn’s three individual and two relay firsts made the difference.
Team scores
- Gunn 515
- Palo Alto 371
- Monta Vista 359
- Homestead 248
- Los Gatos 205
- Los Altos 169
- Saratoga 158
Monta Vista took down both Gunn and Paly in the opening event, though, with a new meet record of 1:33.54 in the 200 medley relay. Nikhil Kundu (24.72), Keven Shang (25.43), Lucca Martins (22.53), and Felix Chiun (20.86) contributed to the effort. Paly came in second with 1:33.77, also under the old meet mark. Gunn won both the 200 free relay (Michael Lincoln, Trent Tosky, David Shau, and Christian Znidarsic) and 400 free relay (Shau, Daichi Matsuda, Tosky, and Lincoln).
Gunn’s Matsuda won both the 200 IM (1:51.40) and 500 free (4:36.11). His time in the IM took down teammate Tosky’s 2015 school record by 6/10. Tosky, meanwhile, earned two silver medals: 100 fly (50.82) and 100 back (52.48). Teammate Maximilian Pokutta won the 100 breast with a school record of 57.00; he also finished third in the 200 IM (1:55.51).
Albert Gwo of Los Altos earned two firsts as well. He went 20.94 to claim the 50 free title and 46.04 to win the 100 free. Joao Ama of Gunn (21.27 and 46.72) and Chiun of Monta Vista (21.34 and 46.29) rounded out the podium in both sprint free events.
Paly’s Alex Liang broke the meet record in the 200 free by .07 with his 1:38.61 victory. Monta Vista’s Martins was second in 1:43.64, ahead of Gunn’s Shau (1:46.21). Martins added a third in the 100 fly (50.97) to his point total. Liang won silver in the 100 breast (57.31), edging Monta Vista’s Shang by .02. Paly’s Andrew Cho picked up a pair of silvers, too: 200 IM (1:53.17) and 500 free (4:37.99).
Jack Xie of Saratoga won the 100 fly in 48.79 and swam on all three of Saratoga’s relays. Homestead’s Houfu Yan smoked the field over the second half of the 100 back and won in 52.40, passing both Tosky and third-place Kundu (52.93).
Reed Merritt of Paly won his fourth straight title, crushing his 2015 school record with 594.90 points. The Texas-bound senior beat Los Altos twins Evan Labuda (522.80) and Trevor Labuda (513.40).
The California Interscholastic Federation’s Central Coast Championship meet will take place Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May 14 at Santa Clara Swim Center.
