Two Championship Records Go Down During Boys Prelims Of CIF-Central Coast Section Champs

2025 CIF Central Coast Championships – Boys Prelims

• May 6-11, 2025
• Independence High School – San Jose, Calif.
• SCY (25 Yards)
• Meet Central
• Live Results: “2025 CCS Swimming and Diving Championships” on MeetMobile

The 2025 Central Coast Swimming and Diving Championships are co-ed for finals, but prelims are split by gender. The boys’ prelims session took place Thursday, May 8^th, two days before the finals session. Even with the reduced number of athletes at prelims, there was no reduction in the action, as two CCS championship records went down.

Nathan Foucu broke the first in the 200 freestyle, the opening individual event of the meet. The King’s Academy junior swam a 1:35.40, breaking Sam Shimomura’s 13-year-old record of 1:35.86 by .46 seconds. The swim was a big lifetime best for Foucu, cutting 1.18 seconds off the 1:37.04 best he swam in February. He finished second in the 100 and 200 freestyle at the 2024 CIF Central Coast Section Championships.

Foucu will face the other newly minted CCS championship record holder in the 100 freestyle finals. Valley Christian junior Yury Kuzmenko sliced three-hundredths off the record in the event during prelims, clocking a lifetime best 43.44. He wiped Ethan Harrington’s record from two years ago off the books with the time.

Kuzmenko had a strong prelims session. In addition to his championship record, the Princeton commit also broke 20 seconds for the first time in the 50 freestyle. Kuzmenko came into the meet with a lifetime best of 20.06 and put together an 19.87, the fastest qualifying time of the session. After finishing 4^th in this event a year ago he’s now the favorite for this year’s title, as Tyler Porter qualified second in 20.23.

Kuzmenko was third in the 100 freestyle a year ago, just behind Foucu. That should be a great head-to-head tomorrow, as Foucu swam 44.04, securing lane five.

Shareef Elaydi was a two-time champion at this meet in his freshman season, winning the 200 IM and 100 butterfly. Now a sophomore, he’s kept the 200 IM on his schedule but has swapped the 100 butterfly for the 100 breaststroke. He came into the meet as the top seed in both and did what he needed to in prelims, qualifying easily for his two individual finals as the second-seed in both.

Elaydi swam a 1:49.49 in the 200 IM prelims, qualifying three-hundredths behind Nate Yoon. Then, he checked in at 55.27 in the 100 breaststroke, closely tracking junior Andrew Pham (55.04). Elaydi owns a lifetime best of 1:44.79 in the 200 IM and 53.94 in the 100 breaststroke, so expect a big improvement on his prelims swims tomorrow as he aims to stay undefeated in his individual events at the Central Coast Section Championships.

While Elaydi has bypassed the 100 butterfly this year, his school, Archbishop Mitty, still owns the top seed in the event heading into finals. Junior Enzo Balbuena, a Cornell commit, posted the fastest prelim time with a 48.73. The swim puts him just .23 seconds off the personal best he swam a week ago at the WCAL Championships.

After qualifying first for the 200 IM, Yoon qualified second in the 100 backstroke. He was third in the event last year and qualified for finals with a 50.16, about a second off his lifetime best 49.20. If he can be at his best tomorrow, this final should be a great race between him and top qualifier Nicolas Ogawa. Ogawa, a Palo Alto senior headed to Tufts this fall, swam 49.53 to earn lane four in the final, and has a lifetime best 49.39.

Finally, Woodside senior and UC-Santa Barbara commit Seth Collet cruised a 4:26.22 to qualify first in the 500 freestyle. Collet won the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke at this meet last season, but has mixed it up slightly for his last season. His qualifying time is about two seconds from the 4:24.38 personal best he set in March.

Collet will also have the chance to defend his 200 freestyle title, as he qualified third for the final with a 1:38.95.

Relay Top Qualifiers

• 200 medley relay: Valley Christian – 1:31.87
• 200 freestyle relay: Bellarmine College Prep – 1:24.06
• 400 freestyle relay: Leland – 3:05.10