2024 SCVAL De Anza Division Championship Meet
- April 24-27, 2024
- Saratoga High School – Saratoga, California
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results on Meet Mobile: “2024 SCVAL De Anza Division Championship Meet”
Palo High School successfully defended its Santa Clara Athletic League (SCVAL) De Anza Division titles on Friday in Saratoga, as the girls’ team dominated the competition and the men’s team edged out a victory over Gunn High School.
The swimmers who qualify will compete at the CIF Central Coast Section Championships May 2-3 in Hollister, California.
GIRLS’ RECAP
The Palo Alto girls won another Division title behind a standout effort from freshman swimmer Hannah Oh, who won both of her individual events and contributed to two winning relays.
Oh, 15, logged new best times in the 200 IM (2:05.94) and 100 breast (1:04.42) en route to victories, and threw down a 23.28 anchor on the 200 free relay to push Palo Alto to a three-second win in 1:37.41.
At the end of the session, Oh added a third best time on the day leading off the 400 free relay in 53.01, and junior Llew Ladomirak put an exclamation point on the meet win with a 51.69 anchor leg as Palo Alto won by more than five seconds in 3:34.85.
Palo Alto swept the relays, also claiming the 200 medley in 1:48.95.
There were two other multi-event winners on the day, as Saratoga sophomore Kelsey Zhang had a second consecutive sweep—just different events from last year—and Los Altos freshman Maren Byrne showed some impressive freestyle range.
Zhang, who won the 500 free and 100 back as a freshman, claimed the 100 free (50.46) and 200 free (1:48.38) this time around, dropping half a second in the 100 and a tenth in the 200 free from her previous bests.
The 15-year-old Byrne set new best times in the 50 free (23.78) and 500 free (5:03.29) to win two events in her first Division Championship meet, edging out Los Gatos senior Karly Frangieh by .01 in the 50. Frangieh was also the runner-up to Zhang in the 100 free.
Also picking up victories were Los Altos junior Maya Bromberg in the 100 fly (58.49) and Homestead junior Rinka Yoshida in the 100 back (56.42). Yoshida was the runner-up to Zhang last year in the 100 back.
Final Team Standings – Varsity
- Palo Alto High School, 555
- Los Gatos High School, 316
- Los Altos High School, 286
- Homestead High School, 257
- Saratoga High School, 223
- Lynbrook High School, 197
- Gunn High School, 177
BOYS’ RECAP
The Palo Alto boys leaned on their depth to secure the Division title, as the team had no event wins on the day but came away with the overall victory by 46 points over Gunn High School.
Junior Blake Wang and sophomore Nico Ogawa led Paly with more than 30 points apiece, as Wang was 3rd in both the 200 free (1:41.33) and 500 free (4:36.90) and Ogawa was the runner-up in the 100 back (51.58) and added a 5th-place showing in the 200 IM (1:55.03).
In the 200 and 500 free, it was Saratoga sophomore Taewon Yim securing victories, as the DeAnza Cuperinto Aquatics product set a pair of massive best times with 1:40.43 and 4:32.78 clockings, respectively. Last year as a freshman, Yim was 3rd in the 200 free and 5th in the 500 free.
The other double winner for the boys was Gunn sophomore Nate Yoon, who broke 50 seconds for the first time in the 100 fly (49.96) and added another PB en route to repeating as the winner of 100 back (50.29). In the 100 fly, Yoon’s previous best of 50.01 was set just last month.
Yoon was also a key cog on Gunn’s two winning relays, leading off the 200 medley (1:32.65) with a 23.57 backstroke split and then splitting 47.59 swimming second on the 400 free relay (3:07.47).
Leading off the Gunn 400 free relay was senior Andy Cui, who was .01 off his PB in 46.30. Cui also won the 200 IM (1:50.98) and was the runner-up to Yoon in the 100 fly, finishing just over a tenth back in 50.08. Cui owns best times of 1:50.22 in the 200 IM and 49.75 in the 100 fly.
Los Altos won the 200 free relay in 1:25.89 behind a 21.50 lead-off from Isaac Shang and a 20.72 anchor from Trent Stegina. In the 50 free, Shang picked up a win in 21.25 over Los Gatos’ Mathijs Dirven (21.46) and Stegina (21.64).
Dirven, a sophomore, won the 100 free in 46.89, moving to the top of the heap after placing 8th as a freshman.
In the 100 breast, Lynbrook junior Frank Nguyen dropped nearly nine-tenths off his PB to claim the win in 56.67, with Stegina taking 2nd in 57.01.
Final Team Standings – Varsity
- Palo Alto High School, 478
- Gunn High School, 432
- Los Gatos High School, 296
- Homestead High School, 248
- Los Altos High School, 247
- Lynbrook High School, 152
- Saratoga High School, 136
