2023 CIF Sac-Joaquin Prelims Recap: Ava Chavez & Sarah Bennetts Set to Defend Titles

2023 CIF Sac-Joaquin Swimming and Diving Championships

• April 28 – May 5, 2023
  • April 28-29: Diving
  • May 3-5: Swimming
• Elk Grove Aquatics Complex — Elk Grove, CA
• SCY (25 Yards)
• Meet Results: “2023 CIF Sac-Joaquin Section” on MeetMobile

Girls Prelims Recap

Saint Francis High School, the 2022 runners-up, got off to a strong start in their prelims session thanks to the versatile duo of Erica Jaffe and Ava Chavez. The two swim club together on the Sierra Marlins Swim Team, and earned the top seed in each of their two individual events.

Jaffe is the top seed in both the 200 IM (2:05.06) and 100 back (55.41). The sophomore won the 200 IM at the 2022 Winter Junoirs – West with a personal best of 2:01.00, so look for her to be faster in tomorrow’s finals. She’s the fastest qualifier by over a second, but fellow sophomore Melanie Quinto posted a personal best 2:02.87 at the CIF State Championship last year and could make things interesting.

Jaffe has an even bigger gap in the 100 back, as her teammate Grace Mering qualified second in 57.99.

Chavez, a senior and a Cal commit, is the top qualifier in the 200 freestyle (1:48.35) and 100 fly (53.58). She’s the defending champion in the 200 free, and her prelims time is faster than the time she posted to win last year. Additionally, it was less than half a second off her personal best of 1:47.88, which she clocked in March. Her 100 fly was also just off her best; a 53.21 she swam to place 12th at Winter Juniors – West.

Both Jaffe and Chavez swam on the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, which qualified for finals in first and second overall. Chavez led off the 200 free relay in 23.87, which would have qualified for the individual event finals in third. Similarly, Jaffe led off the 400 free relay with a 52.06, which would have been good for second in the individual 100 free prelims.

The defending champions are Davis Senior High School. They earned the title commandingly last year, beating Saint Francis by 262 points. Senior Sarah Bennetts has set herself up well to defend her 100 free and 100 breast titles from last year, qualifying first in both events. Bennetts is heading to UCLA in the fall, and posted 50.36 in the 100 free with a 1:02.51 in the 100 breast.

At Winter Juniors, Bennetts broke 50 seconds in the 100 free for the first time in her career (49.80), then did it again at last month’s Delta League Championships with a best time of 49.74. She qualified first here by over two seconds, so while the race may be for second, keep an eye on whether she can break that barrier again. Her teammate Sara Kos has set herself up to do well in finals, qualifying third in the 100 back (58.84) and fourth in the 50 free (24.63).

In the girls’ races, the pattern is there’s a top seed whose well ahead of the field, who look set to battle for the other podium steps. The races where that’s not true are all in the the freshman/sophomore division: 50 free, 100 fly, 100 back, and 400 free relay.

Boys Prelims Recap

There were way less double top qualifiers on the boys’ side of the meet than the girls’. The only two boys to go 2-for-2 and qualify as the top seed in multiple individual events were Louie Fasani and Michael Romero. 

Fasani is verbally committed to Arizona and qualified as the top seed in the 100 fly (49.04) and 100 back (48.70). Both swims were personal bests for the junior and his 48.70 marks the first time he’s gone sub-49 in the 100 back. His previous best was 49.48, swum at Winter Juniors – West, which makes it a .78 second drop for him with finals still to come. His 100 fly is a best by three-hundredths.

He closed out the session with another best time. Leading off Del Oro High’s 400 free relay, he ripped 45.89, cutting 1.52 seconds off his previous mark of 47.41. The time would have made him the top qualifier in the individual 100 free, which was led by Rob Carpenter‘s 46.34. It helped the relay move through to finals in first, with an overall time of 3:08.30.

For Romero’s part, he took the top seed in the freshman/sophomore 50 free and 100 back. Swimming for Inderkum, Romero clocked two personal bests to grab his top times–21.99 in the 50 free and 53.64 in the 100 back. His 50 free is the first recorded time he’s gone sub-22 and he was the only one in his event to dip under the mark as Cooper Zarro was second in 22.40. His 53.64 100 back is a best by 1.63 seconds and he’s separated from the rest of the field by about the same margin.

Last year, the Granite Bay boys beat Davis High by just 7 points for the team title. They’ve set themselves up to be in the title hunt again this year, and a big part of that comes from their relay performances. They’re the fastest qualifiers in four of the six relay events, giving them an edge over Davis High. It will be key for them to hold onto those seeds in tomorrow’s finals session.

Brennan Fuchslin and Remo Mann also hold top seeds for Granite Bay, qualifying first in the varsity 200 free (1:39.47) and 100 breast (55.73), respectively. Those are best times for both of them, with Fuchslin dropping over two seconds to break 1:40 and Mann dipping under 56 seconds for the first time.

Full List of Top Seeds

• 200 medley relay
  • Girls Varsity: 1:45.30, Davis High
  • Boys Varsity: 1:34.29, Davis High
  • Girls FR/SO: 1:53.47, Granite Bay
  • Boys FR/SO: 1:41.64, Granite Bay
• 200 freestyle
  • Girls Varsity: 1:48.35, Ava Chavez (SFRA)
  • Boys Varsity: 1:39.47, Brennan Fuchslin (DAVI)
  • Girls FR/SO: 1:55.66, Brianna Gough (RICI)
  • Boys FR/SO: 1:47.69, Maximillian Ng (GRBA)
• 200 IM
  • Girls Varsity: 2:05.06, Erica Jaffe (SFRA)
  • Boys Varsity: 1:50, 81, Sean Christianson (DEOR)
  • Girls FR/SO: 2:09.01, Jesse Carter (TWBR)
  • Boys FR/SO: 2:00.37, Avi Mahajan (FOLS)
• 50 freestyle
  • Girls Varsity: 23.51, Jada Duncan (WHNY)
  • Boys Varsity: 21.11, Evangelos Tepenkiozis (JESU)
  • Girls FR/SO: 24.82, Illiana Foth (CHBR)
  • Boys FR/SO: 21.99, Michael Romero (INDM)
• 100 butterfly
  • Girls Varsity: 53.58, Ava Chavez (SFRA)
  • Boys Varsity: 49.04, Louie Fasani (DEOR)
  • Girls FR/SO: 57.63, Kaylee Mathiesen (WEPK)
  • Boys FR/SO: 52.99, Will Titley (WHNY)
• 100 freestyle
  • Girls Varsity: 50.36, Sarah Bennetts (DAVI)
  • Boys Varsity: 46.34, Rob Carpenter (ELCP)
  • Girls FR/SO: 54.52, Sophia Lova (ROCK)
  • Boys FR/SO: 48.87, Richard Lin (VAND)
• 500 freestyle
  • Girls Varsity: 4:56.65, Chloe Eyrich (DEOR)
  • Boys Varsity: 4:29.96, Charlie Franz (RIAM)
  • Girls FR/SO: 5:16.14, Maggie Clemens (FOLS)
  • Boys FR/SO: 4:47.47, Owen Jones (FOLS)
• 200 freestyle relay
  • Girls Varsity: 1:37.63, Saint Francis
  • Boys Varsity: 1:26.67, Granite Bay
  • Girls FR/SO: 1:43.52, Christian Brothers
  • Boys FR/SO: 1:33.28, Granite Bay
• 100 backstroke
  • Girls Varsity: 55.41, Erica Jaffe (SFRA)
  • Boys Varsity: 48.70, Louie Fasani (DEOR)
  • Girls FR/SO: 1:00.17, Jessynta Taylor (BERI)
  • Boys FR/SO: 53.64, Michael Romero (INDM)
• 100 breaststroke
  • Girls Varsity: 1:02.51, Sarah Bennetts (DAVI)
  • Boys Varsity: 55.73, Remo Mann (DAVI)
  • Girls FR/SO: 1:07.29, Illiana Foth (CHBR)
  • Boys FR/SO: 1:00.97, Seton Foon (GRBA)
• 400 freestyle relay
  • Girls Varsity: 3:30.07, Davis High
  • Boys Varsity: 3:08.30, Del Oro
  • Girls FR/SO: 3:49.37, Rocklin High
  • Boys FR/SO: 3:23.61, Granite Bay