2025 CIF Central Coast Championships
- 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
Palo Alto Makes History
The Palo Alto Vikings made history at this year’s CIF Central Coast Swimming and Diving Championships, becoming the first program to win the girls and boys titles in the same year, per The East Bay Times. While the boys beat runners-up Bellarmine College Prep by over 40 points, even with Bellarmine’s 200 and 400 freestyle relay victories, it came down to the final relay for the girls to clinch the title.
Palo Alto held a slim lead over Archbishop Mitty coming into the 400 freestyle relay, highlighted by Llew Ladomirak, Katie Spitzer, Hannah Oh, and Sabrina Meyers winning the 200 freestyle relay title (1:34.99). Archbishop Mitty did exactly what they needed to do and won the 400 freestyle relay (3:28.87) as did the Vikings, who secured the team trophy by four points with a third-place finish.
Archbishop Mitty made a strong push in the championship’s waning events. In addition to winning the 500 freestyle relay, they won the 100 breaststroke—the last individual event of the meet—as well. Sophomore Mia Su defended her title with a 1:00.96, missing Grace Zhao’s CCS championship record by just two-hundredths.
Central Coast Championship Records (& The Near Misses)
The tone for this year’s championship was set during the boys’ prelims session two days ago, when Nathan Foucu and Yury Kuzmenko set CCS championship records in the 200 and 100 freestyle, respectively.
Kuzmenko nearly started off finals with another CCS championship record. He anchored Valley Christian’s winning 200 medley relay, splitting 19.24 and combining with Garic Shao, Jack Cameron, and Robert White III for a 1:31.00, missing The Harker School’s record by seven-hundredths.
The junior and Princeton commit had another near miss with the record books in the 50 freestyle. He won the 50 freestyle in a lifetime best 19.65, beating the 19.87 he swam in prelims and coming just .08 seconds from the meet record. He nailed it in the 100 freestyle though, shaving .02 seconds off the CCS championship record he swam in prelims with a 43.42.
Earlier in the meet, Foucu tied the CCS championship record he swam in the 200 freestyle prelims. He stopped the clock in 1:35.40, matching his personal best and moving one step on the podium from the silver he won in this race last season. He picked up silver in his second individual event of the meet, swimming a 100 freestyle lifetime best of 43.99 to touch behind Kuzmenko.
Shareef Elaydi, Kelsey Zhang Win Twice
Archbishop Mitty sophomore Shareef Elaydi stayed undefeated in his individual events at the Central Coast Section Championships. He even swapped the 100 butterfly for the 100 breaststroke this year, showing off his versatility.
Elaydi had positioned himself well after prelims and was the top seed in both his individual events heading into finals. First, he won gold in the 200 IM with a 1:46.01, which is less than a tenth off the 1:45.93 he swam to win the CIF State Championship title last year. Then, he swam 54.01 in the 100 breaststroke, helping Archbishop Mitty pull off the 100 breaststroke sweep. The swim was less than a tenth from his 53.94 personal best from the 2024 Winter Junior Championships and inched him closer to the CCS Championship record (53.81).
Saratoga junior Kelsey Zhang pulled off her double in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly for the third-straight year to maintain her undefeated status in her individual events at this championship. The Cal commit clocked a 1:58.08 in the 200 IM, then followed up with a 52.56. She won the 100 butterfly over 200 freestyle champion Ella Detter by exactly a second.
More Highlights
Two freshman girls won individual events in their CCS Championships debut. Clara Young popped a 23.48 lifetime best in the 50 freestyle, defending her place atop the psych sheet. She edged out junior Ciara Looney by a tenth for gold.
Later, Tanishi Gupta, a freshman from Henry M. Gunn High, moved up from 7th on the psych sheet to the top step of the podium in the 100 back. She fired off a lifetime best 55.25 to win, breaking the 56.09 she swam a month ago.
The Archbishop Mitty boys also got a win from junior Enzo Balbuena. The Cornell commit won the 100 butterfly in 48.64, just .14 seconds off the lifetime best he swam last week at the WCAL Championships.
Other Event Winners
- Girls’ 200 medley relay: Mountain View – 1:44.11
- Girls’ 100 free: Elizabeth Burkhardt, St. Ignatius – 50.41
- Girls’ 500 free: Malia Green, Leigh – 4:53.41
- Boys’ 500 free: Seth Collet, Woodside – 4:19.73
- Boys’ 100 back: Nate Yoon, Henry M. Gunn – 49.10
Final Results
Girls’ Top Five
- Palo Alto – 194
- Archbishop Mitty – 190
- Mountain View High School – 167
- Ignatius – 137
- Saratoga – 114
Boys’ Top Five
- Palo Alto – 244.5
- Bellarmine College Prep – 203
- Archbishop Mitty – 162
- Valley Christian – 158.5
- Leland – 156
Damn it, how did we let PALY win?? Their swimmers aren’t even that fast!! :angry-face: :angry-face: :cursing-face:
Pet Peeve: Having a time without saying the event. In this case Tanishi Gupta. Probably the 100 Back.
Hats off to Paly. Beating BCP is always a feat on the boy’s side as is holding off WCAL teams on the girls side. Gonna be a fun state meet