Kelsey Zhang Scares 100 FL & 200 IM CIF-Central Coast Section Records at 2024 Girls Prelims

2024 CIF Central Coast Section Championships

  • May 2nd-4th, 2024 (Swimming)
  • Independence High School
  • San Jose, CA (PDT)
  • SCY (25y)
  • Meet Central
  • Psych Sheet
  • Meet Info
  • Girls Prelims: Thursday, May 2nd
  • Boys Prelims: Friday, May 3rd
  • Boys & Girls Finals: Saturday, May 4th, 1:30PM
    • Defending Champs: St. Ignatius girls (2x) | Palo Alto boys (2x)
  • Results on Meet Mobile: “2024 CCS Swimming & Diving Championships”

The 2024 CIF State Swimming and Diving Championship Series continues this week with the start of the 2024 CIF-Central Coast Section (CIF-CCS) Championships, held at Independence High School in San Jose. The girls swam their prelims events on Thursday, May 2nd, which will be recapped shortly. Meanwhile, the boys will have their shot at prelims on Friday evening, May 3rd. Both girls and boys finals events will be contested on Saturday, May 4th, beginning at 1:30PM PDT.

  • Click here for more information on all 11 CIF sections’ meet schedules and full 2024 CIF State Championship Series schedule.

At this CIF-CCS section meet, a top-three finals finish will earn an automatic qualification to the 2024 CIF State Meet, taking place May 9th-11th at Clovis West High School in Fresno. Entering this year’s CCS meet, the St. Ignatius girls and the Palo Alto boys both come in as two-time defending CCS team champions.

Girls’ Prelims Highlights

Saratoga sophomore Kelsey Zhang dominated the 200 IM prelims with a 1:59.05, ahead of freshmen Archbishop’s Isabelle Wu (2:01.80) and Los Altos’ Maren Byrne (2:02.10). Zhang is the current defending 200 IM section champion. Last month at Far Westerns, Zhang set her lifetime best of 1:57.26. The current 2014 CCS record stands at 1:57.75 by Ally Howe. Zhang would at minimum need to drop 1.3s from Thursday prelims during Saturday finals to have a shot at the decade-old mark.

Saratoga’s Zhang also easily topped the 100 fly prelims with a time of 52.74, over half a second off her February PB of 52.08. Swimming another prelims No. 2 time was Castilleja’s Ella Detter at 54.34, tenths ahead of Woodside senior Edana Huang (54.65) and Mountain View sophomore Allison Liu (54.73). Zhang also won the 2023 final at 52.62, with Detter (54.04) and Liu (54.73) apart of the 2023 returning top three finishers. In another potential record breaking opportunity for Zhang, the sophomore has a shot at dropping 0.16s off her two-month-old 52.08 PB and re-write Jasmine Tosky‘s 2011 CCS record of 51.92.

Woodside senior Audrey Chung claimed the top 50 free prelims spot at 23.62, setting herself up to defending her 2023 section title. Last year’s 200 free section champion, Los Gatos senior Karly Frangieh, has opted to contest in the 50 free this year. She currently sits in second at 23.72, 0.02s ahead of Castilleja senior Olivia Detter (23.74). Allison Liu earned another fourth-place prelims time with a narrow lifetime best of 23.84. Chung won the 2023 CCS title at 23.40 while Detter placed third at 23.64.

The last individual event, the 100 breast, is set to feature a unique battle between upperclassmen and lowerclassmen. With the 2023 champion now graduated, plus three more 2023 finalists, that leaves an open window for the 2024 field. Returning as last year’s runner-up is Harker School senior Ashley Hong, who touched in at 1:03.10.

During this year’s prelims, however, Hong was upstaged by a freshman, Archbishop’s Mia Su. The youngster topped the prelims times at 1:01.58, smashing 0.85s off her November 2023 PB of 1:02.43. The 100 breast CCS record currently rests at 1:00.94, set in 2017 by Grace Zhao. Now, Su has another potential 0.64s to drop to take a shot at Zhao’s record.

Registering 1:03.09 for the second-fastest prelims time was Harker’s Hong at 1:03.09. To add to the underclassmen pressure, the third through fifth prelims seeds were all freshmen: Archbishop’s Enna O’Young (1:03.19), Mountain View’s Erin Griffis (1:03.51), and Los Altos’ Maren Byrne (1:04.00).

More Girls’ Prelims Top Seeds

  • Palo Alto junior Llew Ladomirak took up the lone sub-1:50 prelims top time in the 200 free at 1:49.68. Rounding out the top three prelims times were juniors Castilleja’s Ella Detter (1:50.52) and St. Ignatius’ Elizabeth Burkhardt (1:51.31).
  • Woodside senior Audrey Chung, like Saratoga’s Kelsey Zhang, has a second section title she could defend. Doubling the sprint distance in the 100 free, Los Gatos senior Karly Frangieh (51.07) and Castilleja senior Olivia Detter (51.16) out-swam defending section champion Chung (51.21) for the top two prelims seeds before tomorrow’s final. In 2023, Chung won the 100 free final at 50.52, with Frangieh (50.84) and Detter (51.01) finishing third and fourth respectively.
  • With last year’s 500 free section champion graduated, the door has opened for top prelims seed (4:57.83) sophomore Hailey Preuss of Menlo-Atherton to better her 2023 runner-up finish. Preuss will also be pursued closely by Leigh freshman Malia Groen (4:58.28) and Palo Alto junior Llew Ladomirak (4:59.10), who also placed third in the 2023 event final. Woodside senior and 100 fly finalist Edana Huang (5:00.22) plus Archbishop freshman 200 IM finalist Isabelle Wu (5:01.33) round out the top five prelims times.
  • St. Ignatius senior Caitlin Quill narrowly leads the 100 back prelims by 0.07s ahead of Castilleja sophomore Addison Finn (56.16). In 2023, Quill placed fifth (56.30) in the 100 back final while Finn placed second (55.61).

Girls’ Prelims Relay Highlights and Top Splits

In the first event on the program, the 200 medley relay, Archbishop Mitty took the top prelims time at 1:46.46. For the remaining top three teams, St. Ignatius (1:46.89) held off Palo Alto (1:47.34) for second finals seed.

Top 200 Medley Relay Splits

  • 50 back: Caitlin Quill (St. Ignatius), 25.68
  • 50 breast: Mia Su (Archbishop Mitty), 28.63
  • 50 fly: Kelsey Zhang (Saratoga), 23.87
  • 50 free: Audrey Chung (Woodside), 22.89

Following a disappointing 33rd-place 200 medley relay prelims finish, the Castilleja girls redeemed themselves mid-session and clocked in the top prelims time of 1:36.48, an eery 0.08s ahead of Palo Alto (1:36.56). However, it was Palo Alto who out-swam St. Ignatius’ relay (1:37.56) for second place while Woodside took their second fourth-place prelims finish (1:38.41).

Top 200 Free Relay Splits

  • Audrey Chung (Woodside), 23.49
  • Maren Byrne (Los Altos), 23.26
  • Kelsey Zhang (Saratoga), 23.21
  • Llew Ladomirak (Palo Alto), 23.15

The Castilleja girls closed out the prelims session with their second prelims relay top time, clocking 3:31.71 to lead the 400 free relay. Following a 9th-place prelims finish in the 200 medley relay, and then 27th in the 200 free relay, Los Gatos powered a No.2 seed time of 3:33.19, just ahead of Archbishop (3:34.07) and Palo Alto (3:34.44).

Top 400 Free Relay Splits

  • Llew Ladomirak (Palo Alto), 52.12
  • Hailey Preuss (Menlo-Atherton), 51.91
  • Karly Frangieh (Los Gatos), 50.81
  • Olivia Detter (Castilleja), 50.61

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About Nick Pecoraro

Nick Pecoraro

Nick has had the passion for swimming since his first dive in the water in middle school, immediately falling for breaststroke. Nick had expanded to IM events in his late teens, helping foster a short, but memorable NCAA Div III swim experience at Calvin University. While working on his B.A. …

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