Gattnar Sets NCS Meet Record in 50 FR, Smith Scares Coughlin’s Legendary 100 Back Mark

NCS Swimming & Diving Championships

• May 4-6, 2023
• Concord Community Pool
• SCY (25 yards)
• Results

De La Salle senior Zach Elian won the 100-yard freestyle (44.65) on Saturday to help the Spartan boys hold off Northgate for California’s North Coast Section (NCS) team title by just 10 points.

Elian, a UCSD commit, also earned a runner-up finish in the 50 free (20.59) and anchored De La Salle’s victorious 200 medley relay team with a 20.13 split.

Northgate (3:03.96) edged De La Salle (3:04.93) in the 400 free relay, the final event of the session, but it wasn’t quite enough to complete the late comeback. Elian had the fastest split in the field with a 44.04 anchor.

Boys’ Team Scores

1. De La Salle – 284
2. Northgate – 274
3. San Ramon Valley – 165
4. Campolindo – 135
5. Monte Vista – 123

Among the individual standouts on the boys’ side was Tam High senior Marre Gattnar, who broke the lone NCS meet record of the day in the 50 free. The Harvard commit clocked a 20.00 to take down the former mark of 20.12 posted by San Ramon Valley’s Spencer Daily in 2018. Gattnar has actually been faster before with a 19.96 at December’s Winter Junior Championships West meet, where he placed seventh.

Gattnar picked up another individual victory in the 100 backstroke with a 47.91. His best time in the event is a 47.58 that he swam at December’s Winter Juniors, where he placed fifth. He went 48.30 at last year’s CIF State Championships en route to a runner-up finish. Gattnar added a 23.20 backstroke leadoff split on Tam’s 200 medley relay as well as a 44.28 anchor on the 400 free relay. He opted not to swim the 100 fly at NCS after breaking a seven-year-old league record with a 48.22 at last week’s MCAL Championships.

The other double individual winner on the boys’ side was Tim Wu, a Dougherty Valley freshman who claimed first-place finishes in the 200 IM (1:47.93) and 100 fly (47.92), both in best times. Wu shaved almost a second off his previous-best 200 IM time and nearly half a second off his previous-best 100 fly time.

Other individual winners from Saturday included California’s Owen Berry in the 200 free (1:37.46), Granada’s Jack Hendrick in the 500 free (4:25.32), and Campolindo’s Nathan Levy in the 100 breast (56.62).

Girls Recap

Virginia commit Bailey Hartman captured individual titles in the 100 free (49.31) and 500 free (4:42.58) to power her Carondelet squad past Campolindo for the team title. Hartman was just off her best time in the 100 free (49.18) from March and nearly nine seconds off her lifetime best in the 500 free (4:33.72) from December’s Winter Juniors, where she placed fourth behind the Sandpipers trio of Bella Sims (4:28.64), Katie Grimes (4:29.53), and Claire Weinstein (4:33.03).

Also winning a pair of individual titles was Irvington senior Angela Quan, who reached the wall first in the 50 free (23.25) and 100 fly (53.90). The UCLA commit dropped two-tenths in the 50 free and was just about half a second off her best time in the 100 fly (53.43).

In the 100 back, Campolindo junior Adriana Smith came just .01 seconds shy of breaking the NCS meet record set by 12-time Olympic medalist Natalie Coughlin back in 1999 with a 52.87. The Cal commit also placed second in the 100 fly (54.83) behind Quan and split 24.99 to lead off Campolindo’s victorious 200 medley relay team. Fellow Campolindo junior Emilia Barck also brought home an individual title in the 200 IM (2:00.77), where the Brown commit dropped over a second off her best time.

San Ramon Valley sophomore Raya Mellott touched first in the 100 breast (1:00.55) and Justin-Siena junior Lila Heffernan triumphed in the 200 free (1:48.58), both slightly off their best times.

Girls’ Team Scores

1. Carondelet – 304
2. Campolindo – 263
3. Monte Vista – 254
4. San Ramon Valley – 220
5. College Prep – 128