May 11, 2008

St. Francis

girls tops

in league

By John Reid / Daily News Staff Writer

St. Francis-Mountain View secured its first West Catholic Athletic League girls swimming and diving championship, totaling 479.50 points at the WCAL league meet held at the Holy Cross Aquatic Center Saturday. Sacred Heart Prep-Atherton was fourth with 233.50 points, while Notre Dame-Belmont was seventh at 97 points.

Lancers freshman Maddy Schaefer bettered her own sprint freestyle league records she set at Friday's trials. Schaefer breezed in the 50-yard freestyle at 23.42, completing the double in the 100 free at 50.90.

"I wanted to make my Pacific Coast time in the 50 free," Schaefer said. "It's all about reaction time in the 50. I was just trying to get under 51 seconds in the 100 free."

Schaefer anchored both freestyle relay teams for the Lancers. The quartet of Paige Gilley, Jenn Talbott, Victoria Pichay and Schaefer was first in the 200-yard free relay in 1:38.67, .32 off the league mark. Talbott was third in the 50 free with a time of 25.00. Jacqui Levere, Natalie Naruns, Gilley and Schaefer were second in the 400 free relay at 3:35.23. Levere was second in the 500 freestyle at 5:12.03, while Gilley added a third place finish in the 100 backstroke at 59.40.

The Lancers had a second through fourth finish in the 1-meter diving with Alexandra Hall, Alexa Richardson and Lea Koukis totaling 388.50, 360.75 and 344.05 respective points.

"All the girls swam great," St. Francis girls coach Dave Knochenhauer said. "We were 7-0 in the dual meet competition, so it's feels great to win the league meet, too."

Sacred Heart Prep freshman Sarah Liang won the girls 100-yard breaststroke by a wide margin with a time of 1:04.99.

"I looked to the side and saw people gaining on me," Liang said. "That's when I turned it on."

"Liang is one of the best swimmers in the Bay Area," Gators co-coach Diane Campbell said.

Liang was part of a 200-yard medley relay team that clocked 1:51.04 for second place. Joining Liang were Katie Howard, Pallavi Menon and Kristie Howard. Katie Howard, a sophomore, added a third in the 200-yard free at 1:57.15 and a second in the 100 free at 52.66.

Notre Dame's best individual finish was by Katie Zakula, who was sixth in the 100 back at 1:02.11.



Navarro navigates double

SHP's Alex Navarro, a senior, doubled in the 200 free (1:41.26) and 500 free (4:36.29) to highlight the Gators' day.

"Alex deserved it," Campbell said. "He works really hard. We had a lot of great swims (today). We had five Central Coast Section qualifying times."

Navarro, Paul Rudolph, David Culpan and Kevin Meisel were second in the boys 200-yard free relay in a time of 1:28.34. Tommy Selby picked up a third in the 1-meter diving for the Gators with 368.85 points. The Gators were fifth in the team race with 230 points. St. Francis was third in the team race with 244.50 points with Serra in sixth at 176 points.

David Kuo of St. Francis was second in the 200 free in 1:45.42 and second in the 500 free at 4:42.29. The Lancers Tyler Evans was second in the 1-meter diving with 371.45 points.

Serra placed third in the 400 free relay, the Padres' quartet comprised of Masa Oto, Chris Yarranton, Derek Koo and Zachary Chierici. Oto added a fourth in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 53.78.

Bellarmine-San Jose won the team title with 558.50 points. The Central Coast Section swimming and diving championships are next weekend at Stanford University.



E-mail John Reid at

jreid@dailynewsgroup.com.