The Palo Alto girls’ swim team looks ready for a strong CCS finish after winning by half a point in the highly competitive Palo Alto Section Challenge Saturday morning.

The girls narrowly beat last year’s North Coast Section champion Campolindo High School, whose team won the Section Challenge last year.

The close victory came as a surprise to many of the girls, who expected that the meet would be won by a much wider margin.

“It was really surprising that it was so close,” senior Allie Bollella said.

Freshman Jasmine Tosky agreed that the half-point win was completely unexpected, as she had not even been aware that a team could score half a point.

Tosky, Paly’s highest scorer, claimed 28 individual points, finishing first in the 200-yard individual medley in 2 minutes, 3.64 seconds and third in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:00.92. Although neither of these were personal bests, Tosky felt satisfied with her performance at this point in the season.

“They were not best times, but I’m okay with it because we’ve been training really hard,” Tosky said. “We didn’t taper or rest at all.”

In addition to her individual events, Tosky anchored in the third-place 200-yard medley relay with sophomores Paige Devine and Sarah Liang, and freshman Margaret Wenzlau and in the second-place 200-yard freestyle relay with Bollella, Devine and sophomore Sabrina Lee.

Devine, Liang, Wenzlau, Bollella and Lee also scored individual points for the team.

Liang finished fifth in the 200 IM with a time of 2:07.36. Although she was not completely satisfied with her performance, she was glad to score for the team.

“To be honest, I was kind of disappointed,” Liang said. “I just came back from being sick for a week, but I helped the team, so that felt good.”

Bollella scored in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle with impressive performances in both.

“Personally, I got best times when I wasn’t rested,” Bollella said. “My 50 free was really good, and my 100 [freestyle] was decent. I was surprised I placed, but I wasn’t really surprised that the team won because we worked really hard.”

Lee finished ninth in the 100-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke, and freshman Abby Duckett finished ninth in the 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle. Although Lee was not pleased with her personal performance, she acknowledged the team’s overall effort.

“I didn’t get any personal bests, but I was really close in the 100 back,” Lee said. “We did really good as a team, though. Normally, we don’t win this meet, so it was really encouraging.”

Lee noted in particular freshman Laura Cui’s personal best in the 100-yard breaststroke of 1:09.60, good for an important sixth place finish.

Head coach Danny Dye found the meet helpful because it gave the girls an opportunity to race against their major competitors in the Bay Area, and was thoroughly impressed with their performance.

“Among their competitors was the reigning CCS champs over the past two years, Monta Vista and [Archbishop] Mitty, as well as Las Lomas and Campolindo,” Dye said. “They [the Paly girls] swam great. I was ecstatic.”

Dye feels that the team is now ready to defend its title as Santa Clara Valley Athletic League league champion.

“The girls have won six league titles in a row, and they want seven,” Dye said. “After last week, that’s become a big reality.”

The girls will compete again Homestead High School at 3:30 this Friday at Paly.