Despite the varsity girls’ loss to Monta Vista in last weekâ??s dual swim meet, both varsity swim teams now reign as SCVAL league champs after beating the six other competing swim teams.

â??My expectations for both varsity teams are for them to win leagues," said varsity coach Danny Dye before the meet. "Thatâ??s my expectation and thatâ??s what we came here to do.

Setting out to meet their coaches expectations, the varsity boys won their division with a total of 501 points, crushing Gunnâ??s total of 387 and Monta Vistaâ??s 358.

â??I am very happy with the results,â?? Dye said. â??They swam well, knew what they had to do and did it.â??

The Paly girlsâ?? performance stole the show. After losing to Monte Vista one week ago, the girls used the league championship meet as their opportunity for payback. Determined to defeat their title, the girls placed first with a total of 501 points, beating Monta Vistaâ??s 428 and Gunnâ??s 334.

â??Absolutely the varsity girls want to beat Monta Vista High School,â?? Dye said. â??I think they were caught with their pants down for lack of a better word. I think they [the varsity girls] want to keep their pride.â??

Both Paly junior varsity swim teams lost, with the JV girlsâ?? score of 367 points placing them second to Gunnâ??s 469. Both Monta Vista and Gunn defeated Palyâ??s JV boys, who finished third with a total of 221 points, behind Gunnâ??s 295 and Monta Vistaâ??s 612.5.

â??This was the most fun leagues, and the first year weâ??ve ever had to fight back a team," said varsity girlsâ?? co-captain senior Becky Wenzlau. "Everyone was â??onâ?? and ready to swim.â??

After suffering their first loss in three years, the Viking girls were ready to exact vengeance upon Monta Vista.

â??We have to win this meet for the league title,â?? said varsity girls’ co-captain senior Phoebe Champion during the meet. â??None of us are used to this. Losing a meet was not very normal. We approached [the Monta Vista meet] as â??just another league meet,’ but it was a good wake up call. Weâ??ve had a week to let it sink in. Right now weâ??re doing exactly as we are supposed to.â??

Monta Vista provided stiff competition for Paly. After tying Champion in the 50-yard freestyle event in the dual meet, Monta Vista freshman Emma Drysdale came out on top at the league finals, winning the event with a time of 24.67 seconds, only 14 milliseconds ahead of Championâ??s time of 24.81.

Yet, the varsity girls were determined not to let history repeat itself. Junior Tanya Wilcox defeated her competition in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing first with a time of 1:11.54. Wenzlau, Champion, senior Donna Kremer and sophomore Liv Jensen placed first in the 200-yard freestyle relay with an All-American Consideration time of 1:39.15, shattering their own SCVAL record time of 1:40.37 seconds, set during last yearâ??s season.

Three more of Jensenâ??s times, in the 500-yard freestyle, 400-yard freestyle relay, and 200-yard individual medley, qualified for All-American Consideration.

â??Megan Fisher-Colbrie [of Monta Vista] was ahead in the beginning but I had a better back half [second half]. I was pretty amazed when I looked at the scoreboard. It was a really fast time for me, I dropped two and a half seconds,â?? Jensen said.

The varsity boys also managed to swim several All-American Consideration times. Freshman Mark Higginsâ?? finished first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:41.01. The varsity boysâ?? the 400-yard freestyle relay, composed of sophomore Michael Fortune and seniors Eric Vallone, Robbie Nakamura, and Edward Morrison finished second with 3:15.53. Morrison dominated the 200-yard freestyle with All-American time of 1:41.67, almost four seconds ahead of the closest competition.

Having swam hard and fast, the Viking swimmers felt secure in keeping their title as league champions.

â??I wouldnâ??t say weâ??re cocky, but weâ??re confident,â?? said co-captain Nakamura after the varsity boys finished the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:28.21, qualifying for All-American Consideration. â??At this point weâ??re confident that weâ??re going to win. We just need to close it out with the last four events.â??

The CCS qualified Viking swimmers will participate in the preliminaries at 1 p.m., today, at the Avery Aquatics Center on Stanford campus, while finals will take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Reporter Jim Shen contributed to this story