Abby Samansky Shatters Records At CIF Central Division 1 Championships

2018 CIF CENTRAL SECTION D1 CHAMPIONSHIPS

• May 9-12, 2018
• Clovis West High School
• Fresno, California
• Meet Central
• Live Results

The CIF Central Section Division 1 Championships saw a total of five meet records fall during finals on Saturday, as the Clovis West girls and Clovis North boys prevailed victorious in the meet. Check out recaps of the girls and boys meets below.

Girls

Clovis West junior Abby Samansky was the big story on the girls side, as she went 4/4 in event wins and meet records.

She opened with a win in the 200 free, shattering Tristin Baxter‘s 2010 record of 1:48.92 in 1:47.79. She cleared the field by almost five seconds, with Frontier senior Kassidy Lemminn 2nd in 1:52.49 (after leading prelims in 1:50.97). Samansky also became the first CIF Central swimmer to break 50 seconds in the 100 freestyle, scorching a 49.90 to take down Stephanie Bartel‘s 2016 record of 50.60. Samansky’s Clovis West teammate Caitlyn Snyder was the runner-up, almost breaking the old record herself in 50.86.

For the relays, Samansky led off for Clovis West in both the 4×50 and 4×100 free, going 23.86 and 51.16, as they put up times of 1:35.75 and 3:29.57 to defeat Liberty (1:38.83) and Buchanan (3:36.10). Also playing a key role on those relays was Snyder, who anchored in 23.20 and 51.03 respectively.

The other record of the meet went to Snyder, who unloaded a 23.27 in the 50 free to break a 20-year-old record. Back in 1998, Kristie Begin was 23.55. Clovis North’s Brooke Costella, who also took 3rd in the 100 free, finished 2nd in 23.56.

Clovis’ Shelby Vidmar and Averee Preble joined Samansky as double winners individually. Vidmar, a senior, took the 200 IM (2:10.49) and 100 breast (1:05.99). In the 200 IM she edged out teammate Abby Mammen (2:10.75), who had a win of her own in the 100 back (57.73). Preble, a junior, came away with wins in the 100 fly (55.24) and 500 free (4:48.72), both in decisive fashion. Mammen, Vidmar and Preble teamed up with Taylor Anderson to win the 200 medley relay, narrowly missing an 18-year-old record (1:47.23) in 1:47.51.

In the team race, Clovis West won easily with 476.5 points. Buchanan took 2nd with 315 despite no event wins, using strong depth.

Girls Final Team Scores

1. Clovis West, 476.5
2. Buchanan, 315
3. Clovis, 255
4. Liberty, 245
5. Clovis North, 223.5

Boys

Clovis North was dominant for the boys, winning eight of 11 events on the program. Like Samansky for the girls, junior Benjamin Forbes came away with four wins –  2 individual and 2 relay.

Forbes won both the 100 (45.66) and 200 free (1:38.73), with Frontier senior Colin Rabanal taking the runner-up spot in both. Additionally, Forbes led off the Clovis North 200 free relay in 21.22 as they won in 1:24.87, with a notable 20.84 anchor from Michael Jia. Forbes then anchored their 400 free relay in 45.77 as they won handily in 3:07.71.

Jia, a senior, had a pair of individual wins of his own. He won the 50 free in 21.05 over teammate Cole Fleming (21.60), and also took the 100 fly in 48.93 over another teammate Theo Tuggle (51.21). Tuggle picked up an individual win in the 500 free in 4:34.44.

Other individual wins went to Clovis North’s Ethan DePry in the 200 IM (1:53.99), Clovis West’s Austin Lane in the 100 back (51.19), and his teammate Joaquin Jamieson in the 100 breast (58.14). Lane and Jamieson also helped lead Clovis West to a win over Clovis North in the 200 medley relay, clocking 1:35.47 to North’s 1:36.45.

The eight wins buoyed Clovis North to the win, but Buchanan once again had a strong showing to take 2nd, just 46.5 points back.

Boys Final Team Scores

1. Clovis North, 533
2. Buchanan, 486.5
3. Clovis West, 226.5
4. Clovis East, 156.5
5. Centennial / Garces Memorial, 150