The Palo Alto girls’ swim team (3-1, 2-1) dropped its first Santa Clara Valley Athletic League dual meet in three years to crosstown rival Gunn High School, 79-107, on April 1 at Gunn.
The Vikings’ only victories came in the 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard backstroke as Gunn ended Paly’s hopes for an undefeated league season. Sophomore Margaret Wenzlau won the butterfly with a quick time of 57.58 seconds while junior Sabrina Lee was victorious in the backstroke in a time of 1:00.70. Gunn swam to victory behind strong individual performances and impressive depth, winning all relays and taking first and second place in the 50-yard freestyle, the 200-yard freestyle, and the 100-yard breaststroke.
Palo Alto had not lost a league meet since 2007, when the Vikings fell to Monta Vista but still went on to claim the SCVAL title.
“We are slightly disappointed because we always want to beat Gunn,” Lee said. “I think we were at a disadvantage because we were missing two of our top swimmers, but we will beat them at leagues. This loss has only motivated us to work harder.”
Defending CCS individual champions sophomore Jasmine Tosky and junior Sarah Liang did not swim for Paly. Tosky and Liang were competing for their club team at the long course Columbus Grand Prix meet, where Tosky won the 100-meter butterfly, 100-meter freestyle, and 200-yard butterfly while placing in the top four in four other events against an impressive field of collegiate and professional swimmers.
Senior captain Claire Guo remained positive despite the loss.
“We are still working really hard for the rest of the season,” Guo said. “I definitely think we can still win leagues and even CCS [Central Coast Section championship] and I’m excited for the rest of the season.”
Fellow captain senior Kaitlyn Tracy echoed Guo’s focused mindset.
“This was just a minor setback, hardly an issue,” Tracy said. “We are still going to dominate leagues and CCS. This happened our freshman year when we lost to Monta Vista, but then we came back and beat them at Leagues and CCS. But it was a little sad to lose to Gunn.”
Head coach Danny Dye maintains his high hopes for the season in spite of the defeat.
“I thought the girls swam fine,” Dye said. “I was happy with the swims. They swam fast I wasn’t disappointed with their results.”
With three more league meets left in the season, Dye expects the girls to continue their hard work in practice. To win their ninth league championship in a row, the Vikings will need to win the SCVAL championship meet at Lynbrook High School in May.
“I expect them to keep training hard and I expect them to swim well and perform well in the meets and to come back and swim hard at league championships and get the league championship,” Dye said.
The Vikings next meet is against Lynbrook High School at 3:30 p.m. on April 8, at Lynbrook.