Santa Margarita Girls Shatter Nat’l Ind. HS Record in 400 Free Relay

CIF SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISION 1 CHAMPIONSHIPS

  • Prelims- Thursday, May 11th
  • Finals- Saturday, May 13th
  • Riverside Aquatic Complex (Riverside, California)
  • Meet Info
  • Results

The girls of Santa Margarita High School blew out the field at the CIF Southern Section Division 1 Championship meet, taking down a national high school record that featured four future Division I standouts.

Ella Ristic, Mackenzie Degn, Anicka Delgado and Samantha Shelton combined to go 3:18.26 at the CIF Southern Section finals Saturday night, chopping two seconds off the national independent high school record. The foursome will all return next year. Shelton is the only junior, Degn is a sophomore and Delgado and Ristic are both freshmen.

The relay really keyed on big splits on both bookends from Ristic and Shelton, who teamed up to dominate the section meet. The two tied for the 200 free title early in the meet, and both went on to go 3-for-3 in section titles in their other events. Shelton won the 100 back and Ristic the 500 free, and both were part of the winning 200 and 400 free relays.

The splits were as follows:

  • Ristic: 49.83 leadoff
  • Degn: 50.08
  • Delgado: 49.64
  • Shelton: 48.71

Shelton’s 48.71 anchor job is especially impressive considering she swam 3 of the final 4 events of the meet, going back-to-back on the 200 free relay and 100 back, then resting during the 100 breaststroke only to tackle the 400 free relay right after.

They knock down the old record of 3:20.42 set by Carondelet High School back in 2013. That relay was made up of Chelsea Chenault, Natalie Amberg, Maddie Murphy and Madison White. Chenault would go on to star at USC, Murphy at Cal and Amberg and White at UCLA.

The overall national high school record (for schools private/independent and public) still stands at 3:15.38 from Carmel High School in 2015.

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Ken Swim
6 years ago

Californians breaking Californians record, but the overall record of 3:15 still stands. Held by…

Not Betty
6 years ago

It was quite amazing to watch them take this record down.

SM swim fan
6 years ago

Ristic was not part of the winning 4×200 relay, that was SM’s Hoffman, Degn, Delgado and Shelton

Big Calves
6 years ago

Is that a third generation Delgado? I think grandpa was racing Spitz in one of the videos bobo posted the other day.

cynthia curran
Reply to  Big Calves
6 years ago

Well, you could see the same thing for crean Lutheran and Loyola. In the cast of Crean Lutheran who let Coach Brown go, he said that Socal aquatics was a feeder club for Crean. Loyola I don’t know if club teams are that close.

Stacked Deck
Reply to  cynthia curran
6 years ago

Loyola draws club swimmers who were already fast from around a 30 mile radius. The coaches are hillarious the way they act like they actually have something to do with the swimmers going fast. You can’t really congratulate them for anything. Doesn’t take a whole lot of skill to play poker when you’re dealt a winning hand every time.

SM FAN
Reply to  Big Calves
6 years ago

Her Dad was a swimming Olympian for a Latin country

EIE
6 years ago

I don’t understand why private schools are allowed to compete in the same class as public when they can recruit without respect to the boundaries that public schools are forced to follow. I always cheer for the public schools which are at a significant disadvantage. Congrats to SM, best team money can buy!

OC swimmer
Reply to  EIE
6 years ago

SM does not recruit any of their swimmers. Almost every swimmer at SM comes from a club that is in close proximity to the school. This in combination with the welcoming environment and excellent academics make it a hot spot for athletes and students who want to be as best prepared as possible for college.

Dorsally Challenged
Reply to  OC swimmer
6 years ago

It’s a fairly specious argument when the nebulous terms you use reinforce EIE’s point

Taa
Reply to  OC swimmer
6 years ago

I heard the school bought them all new Range Rovers! Even the freshman who can’t drive yet

Dan
Reply to  OC swimmer
6 years ago

I think that when EIE said recruit most people think money where as I am guess that EIE was wondering if ALL the swimmers live within the boundaries for that school if they had been a public school (regardless if they swim for a team near by or not) and I think this is why EIE, I and other people think that public and non public schools should not compete in the same classification. Same/similar rules for teams (private vs other private, public vs other public schools).

On the other hand finishing the statement with “Congrats to SM, best team money can buy!” meant that they attended the school on financial aid or something else (I have seen a lot… Read more »

Pasadena Swimmer
Reply to  OC swimmer
6 years ago

This private school, like many others, uses their athletes to market their swim programs during club swim practices knowing the school can guarantee an offer with financial aid (fee waiver or alumni gifts). My kids were targeted by such swimmers and were asked to shadow them at the local privates and an financial aid “application” was always offered. So yes OC Swimmer they openly and agressively recruit and you are out of touch. Its also true that periodically public schools get caught up or accused (we are talking swim here) but never on such a large, open and brazen scale. The scoring was ridiculous and was NOT a coicidence. SM is good at swimming but much better at something else.… Read more »

OCSWIMFAN100
Reply to  Pasadena Swimmer
6 years ago

Marketing a swim program is what swim clubs do, not high schools. Placing lots of kids in colleges and prestigious universities is what successful high schools market. Academic achievement aside, successful high school athletic programs at large schools like SMHS are focused on sports that drive student spectator participation like Football and Basketball not Girls swimming. As measured by funding, spectator attendance and participation etc, Swimming at SMHS is a niche sport regardless of the recent CIF success. The swim program at SM receives no more resources/student than any of their other sports. Although their success in most sports is better than average, it has not been dominant (as measured in CIF Championships) in any sport besides Girls Swimming this… Read more »

SM swim fan
Reply to  EIE
6 years ago

SM attracts talented swimmers because of the stellar coaches that truly care about each and every swimmer, and foster a positive and encouraging environment that makes each kid feel special. They are one in a million and my daughter is blessed to have been under their tutelage for 3 years

James
Reply to  SM swim fan
6 years ago

This is a tired point that comes up time after time in sport after sport. Plenty of public school programs border-line recruit by attracting lop level athletes to come to their town or section of a city to play or participate in a sport. With the competitive environment of college sports (especially for scholarship) I can’t say i blame someone in seeking out a top program if they can. Obviously rules should still be followed.

OC Parent
Reply to  EIE
6 years ago

Some of their top swimmers are getting their tuition paid for by alumni. Wonder if they would be doing the same for a musician or artist that wanted to attend SM.

OCSWIMFAN100
Reply to  EIE
6 years ago

Mission Viejo High School (A CA Public High School) won the boys CIF Div 1 championship every year for a decade in the 80’s and nineties. Recently University High School in Irvine won the CIF Div 1 Championships 3 years in a row. Carmel High School (Public High School in Indiana) has been the USA Swim Simulated National Championship for 17 years in row (Through 2016). Santa Margarita’s times this year at CIF did not break the National records Carmel has in both the 200 and 400 free relays.

The whining about private vs public is just a way for a few parents to try and make themselves feel better about losing to a better team. The public schools… Read more »

Ron Blanc
6 years ago

Ella Ristic led off, followed by Mackenzie Degn, then Anicka Delgado, and Samantha Shelton anchored. The correct order is showing on Meet Mobile as well as on the CIF website. –Coach Ron Blanc, Santa Margarita Catholic High School

Admin
Reply to  Ron Blanc
6 years ago

Thanks coach for letting us know. Looks like the live results had it wrong. It’s been updated above.

Elver
6 years ago

Shelton did not lead off. Ella Ristic did and Shelton anchored in 48.7

Swim observer
6 years ago

Shelton swam the anchor @ finals

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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