The Palo Alto boys’ and girls’ swim teams placed impressive 10th and 2nd places, respectively, in the Central Coast Section (CCS) finals May 15 at Independence High School.

Paly’s girls dominated, placing 2nd out of 39 total teams and scoring 188 points. They only trailed Archbishop Mitty, which scored 362 points.

In the first event, the girls’ 200-yard medley relay, the Paly girls placed 4th out of 39 other relay teams. Freshman Louisa Zuo, senior Allyson Laughton, junior Monica Friedman, and sophomore Phoebe Champion all swam a leg and achieved a total time of 1:52.35. In the next girls’ event, the 200-yard freestyle, Paly placed 10th and 11th out of 16 swimmers. Sophomore Becky Wenzlau placed 10th with a time of 1:56.11 and junior Remy Champion followed soon after with a time of 1:56.32.

In the 100-yard butterfly, junior Monica Friedman placed 4th out of 44 swimmers with a time of 58.52. Later, Friedman also placed 5th out of 35 swimmers in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:03.91.

The girls had even more success with their relays. They placed 4th in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Wenzlau, Friedman, R. Champion, and junior Brittany Webster all swam a leg in the relay.

Not only did the Paly girls find success swimming, they also did well in the CCS one-meter diving finals. Senior Heather Peng placed second overall out of 29 divers, with 200.20 points. She only trailed the first place diver, Freshman Courtney Rudolph, by 12 points. Paly sophomore Nicole Pzybyla placed 8th and freshman Jennifer Reese placed 9th. Paly senior Kim Namazian returned from an injury and placed 20th in the CCS finals.

The Paly boys’ swim team made its presence visible in the CCS final, placing 10th out of 41 teams in the competition with 71 points. Aragon tied with Paly for 10th place.

The boys started off the meet well, placing 7th out of 16 in the 200-yard medley relay. Freshman Peter Lo, junior Alec Goldfield, and seniors Kalani Leifer and Lee Anderson swam for a time of 1:42.83.

Senior Kalani Leifer, who has performed well all year, continued his success in CCS. He placed 6th in the 200-yard IM and 8th in the 100-yard butterfly.

With the team’s finish in CCS, Paly swimmers have completed a successful year during which underclassmen have made significant contributions and have gained valuable experience.