All four Paly swim teams defeated cross town rival Gunn high school in the much anticipated swim meet last Friday.

The varsity boys crushed Gunn with a 73 point lead, winning 129-56. Both girls’ teams won with at least a forty point margin, 113-73 for the varsity girls and 112-71 for the junior varsity girls. The JV boys squeaked by Gunn in the closest match, 101-82.

“I’m very happy with all four divisions,” varsity head coach Danny Dye said. “Everyone performed well. They swam well, swam hard, and they did what they had to do. Gunn brought some fast swimmers that gave our swimmers some competition. This is always a fun meet.”

When the meet began, Paly’s victory was uncertain. In the JV boys 200-yard Medley Relay, Gunn’s A and B relays swept the event with times of 1:52.24 and 1:54.86. Paly’s A relay, with freshmen Jamie Nakamura, Nolan Wong, and sophomores Andrew Gans and Scott Milkie, finished third at 1:56.49. The varsity teams fared better as the varsity girls’, Paly’s A relay finished first, with juniors Louisa Zuo, Tanya Wilcox, sophomore Liv Jensen and senior Donna Kremer coming in with a time of 1:53.40.

The Viking varsity boys’ A relay with freshman Tim Wenzlau, juniors Peter Lo and Leland Takamine and senior Chan Kim also won with a time of 1:42.42, followed closely by Gunn at 1:43.13.

“It was going to be really close. Both teams were excited,” varsity girls’ co-captain, Becky Wenzlau, said. “We rearranged our relays so we could win our medleys. Everyone swims better because of it.”

The close contest continued as the meet progressed. In the varsity boys’ 50-yard freestyle event, Gunn senior Kyle Gertridge placed first with at time of 22.60. Paly senior Chan Kim followed shortly after, coming into the wall at 22.71. It became clear that the meet would come down to the relays.

In the JV girls’ 400-yard freestyle relay, the Paly A relay finished at 4:18.08, with freshmen Allie Bollela, Lucy McComas and sophomores Alexi Dagan and Jackie Chesson. The B relay with sophomore Liza Dernehl, Kristin Halsted and freshmen Grace Park and Tara Murao followed with a time of 4:21.52. After sweeping the first 400-yard relay, the Vikings finally took control of the meet and went on to win the remaining three relays.

“We knew that Gunn is a really strong team, but we came through and swam really well," said senior Phoebe Champion, varsity girls’ co-captain. "We lost Liv Jensen, who left halfway through because she was really sick. But we’re happy that we have Gunn under control.”

Varsity boys’ co-captain Edward Morrison said, “The meet was really good. We slipped in a few spots, but in general we did pretty well and swam pretty fast.”

For the next swim meet, Paly will take on Mountain View High School at 3:30 p.m. on April 20.