May 11, 2008

Sequoia boys,

El Camino girls

are Bay's best

By John Mylod / Daily News Correspondent

In a brilliant display of sportsmanship, Saturday's PAL Swimming Championships began with every single swimmer slapping "five" with every other swimmer. It was that kind of day at the Sequoia Aquatic Center.

"My congratulations to all the coaches of all the high schools," said host coach Francisco Andaluz of Sequoia. "Their swimmers behaved very nicely. Very smooth races, no problems."

On the girls side, Sequoia won eight of the 11 events. El Camino took the final three events and had the overall depth to come out on top (327). Sequoia finished second with 273 points. Terra Nova rounded out the top three with 214 points.

"My girls swam real well," said El Camino coach Jeff Vitalie. "My guys team is really small but they swam their hearts out."

The Andaluz brothers led Sequoia to the boys championship (283). Terra Nova took second place with 204 points. El Camino finished third with 194 points.

El Camino was led by three-time winner Najelah Najdawl. Najdawl qualified for CCS in the 50 yard freestyle (26.02). Hazel Panopio, Shelbi Cambell and Katherina Panopio teamed up with Najdawl to win the 200 yard medley relay, also in CCS qualifying time (1:58.53). In the 200 yard freestyle relay, Najdawl, Cambell, K Panopio and Francesca Alfajora took first place (1:46.99) and qualified for CCS in the process.

"I got eight going to CCS, (including) two relays," said Vitalie. "I got one individual who has got a good chance at finaling in the 100 fly."

A very young Sequoia girls team fell in the overall despite winning eight races. Megan Beach set a PAL Ocean Division record with a 1:00:52 in the 100 yard butterfly. She also won the 200 IM (2:16.04) and anchored Sequoia's win in the 400 yard freestyle relay. Danielle Brooks, Alyssa Endo and freshman Kayla Bauhaus joined Megan in a CCS qualifying time of 3:59.53.



"I've never been, obviously, because I'm a freshman," said Bauhaus. "I just really excited for a new experience."

Bauhaus also won the 200 yard freestyle (2:08.37) and the 100 yard backstroke (1:06.92).

In 100 yard breaststroke, the day's toughest race, Sarah Beach bested El Camino's Nardawl and teammate Endo with a scorching time of 1:10.76. All three girls qualified for CCS.

"I think I have a chance, maybe finaling at CCS, for my breaststroke," said Sarah Beach.

In the 500 yard freestyle, Endo dusted the field by more that 30 seconds (5:48.51).

"If I have somebody next to me who is relatively my skill level. I feel I can push myself to be better," said Endo in reference to stiffer competition in CCS.

In addition to the 400 relay, Danielle Brooks won the 100 yard freestyle in a time of 59.81

"CCS will be awesome," said Brooks. "Megan will final for sure and our relays will do really well too, I hope."

The Andaluz brothers, Alvaro and Oscar, led Sequoia to the boys championship. Each enjoyed two individual and two team wins. The Andaluzs were joined by Matt Gordon and Alex King in Sequoia's CCS qualifying win in the 200 yard medley relay (1:47.43). John Agate teamed with King and the Andaluzs and also qualified for CCS winning the 400 freestyle relay (3:33.32).

Alvaro qualified for CCS, winning the 100 yard freestyle (49.97). The sophomore also set a PAL Ocean Division record in the 50 yard freestyle (22.65). The old record of 22.73 was set by fellow Cherokee Ari Kalfayan in 2001.

"I told myself I was going to try and get that record," said Alvaro. "I thought, right when I got in the water, think of the record, think of the record."

Oscar Andaluz is younger, but he doesn't swim like it. Oscar won the 100 yard breaststroke (1:10.76) the 500 yard freestyle (5:30.98) and will be joining his winning relay teammates at CCS.

"We are going to race the tough teams, like St Francis," said Oscar. "but we'll do fine."

However, on this day, Sequoia would not rule the pool. El Camino's Thomas Agasid had his hand in three Colt wins. Agasid posted CCS qualifying times in winning the 200 yard IM (2:07.65) and the 100 yard butterfly (54.84). El Camino won the 200 yard freestyle relay behind Agasid, Kris Swartzbaugh, Nick Reinke and anchor Ryan Smith (1:36.13).

The final two wins on the boys side came from Hillsdale. Derek Chiu won the 200 yard freestyle in 1:56.36) and Samsson So qualified for CCS while winning the 100 yard backstroke (1:01.24).

"We haven't had a swimmer in a couple years, qualify (for CCS)," said Kershaw. "So this is a first move forward into the future."