The Vikings scored 256.5 points to Mitty’s 292.5 in a heartbreaking duel for the title. The meet mirrored last year’s CCS championship, in which Palo Alto lost to Mitty by just three points. Paly was out for revenge and had their sights set on the CCS title all season, believing that they had the line up to win it. However, Mitty, which has become Paly’s primary CCS rival, was strong across all events and ended Paly’s hopes for a section crown.
Despite a new high school ban on full body racing suits, sophomore Jasmine Tosky continued her record-breaking ways, lowering both CCS records she set in qualifying for the 100-yard butterfly and 200-yard freestyle. She swam dazzling times of 52.77 seconds and 1:44.11 respectively. Tosky’s All-American times in the freestyle and butterfly are the third fastest times of ever for the 15/16 age group in the United States.
Tosky also anchored the 200-yard individual medley relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay. The 200-yard individual medley relay team of junior Paige Devine, sophomore Laura Cui, freshman Molly Zebker, and Tosky placed second to Mitty with an All-American time of 1:47.06. Tosky’s blazing freestyle split had a time of 22.06. The 400-yard freestyle relay, comprised of junior Sarah Liang, sophomore Margaret Wenzlau, junior Sabrina Lee, and Tosky, placed second in with an All-American time of 3:28.20, powered by Tosky’s incredible anchor leg of 47.63.
Tosky now owns four CCS records, two from last year when she won the 500-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley. She also held the record in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 48.98 until St. Francis’s Maddy Schaefer set a national record of 48.61 in this year’s 100-yard freestyle final.
Tosky was satisfied with her effort, although she felt that she could have swam better.
“My 200 free was moderate,” Tosky said. “I could have done better in the 100 fly.”
In the 100-yard breaststroke, Liang, the two-time defending champion and CCS record holder, was foiled in her quest for three consecutive titles as Mitty’s Eva Chen out-touched her by 0.03 seconds, 1:03.40 to 1:03.37. Cui won her consolation heat to place 9th in a time of 1:06.73. Liang also placed third in the 200-yard individual medley in an All-American time of 2:03.78, while Zebker finished sixth with a strong time of 2:09.69.
Junior Gracie Greenwood placed fifth in one-meter diving with a score of 381.25, an event that was won by Mitty’s Stephanie Phipps.
The Vikings’ hopes of claiming the section title dimmed when they failed to place any swimmers in the top eight of the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle, and the 100-yard backstroke. Mitty’s depth came through in these events as they had two swimmers in the 500-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke finals.
Wenzlau was Paly’s only swimmer in the top 16 for the 50-yard freestyle, placing 11th in 24.68. She also finished fourth in the 100-yard butterfly in an All-American consideration time of 56.86. In the 500-yard freestyle, Zebker tied for 13th in 5:12.07. Lee placed ninth in the backstroke in 59.44 and 15th in the 100-yard freestyle in 53.60.
The Paly team of Lee, freshman Jennifer Chang, Wenzlau and Liang also placed fourth in the 200-yard freestyle relay with an All-American time of 1:38.05.
Head coach Danny Dye was proud of the girls’ hard work and believed they gave their best effort with the championship on the line.
“I thought the girls swam well; they did a good job,” Dye said. “They put themselves in a good position yesterday and they came out and swam hard. We would have had to win the medley relay to begin with and held on to our ninth place finishes and Sarah [Liang] would have had to win her two events. So it was a lot to ask for.”
However, Dye has high hopes for the team next year.
“I am very much looking forward to next year,” Dye said. “All the point-getters return, we don’t graduate any. Diving will only get better and there are young swimmers who just realized how good they are. They will be better next year. I’m looking forward to a real strong year.”
Lee attributed the team’s loss to tough qualifying in several events.
“I think that we swam really well during prelims of CCS, but our only problems was our overall placing,” Lee said. “Many of us placed 9th, making it impossible to win any more points during finals. However, overall, I think our team did fantastic and I don’t I could ask for a better team.”
Although Devine was disappointed that the team did not return home with the title after entering the meet with confidence, having returned almost all of the point scorers from the year before, she remained optimistic.
“Everyone worked really hard this season and I think that we proved that at CCS because there were some really great swims,” Devine said. “Everyone tried really hard at finals to beat Mitty so I’m proud of all the swims but they really came to race this year.”
Senior captain Kaitlyn Tracy believes the loss will motivate the Vikings.
“I think being runner-up two years in a row only makes us want to win it more,” Tracy said. “None of the seniors scored any points at CCS, so technically we are not losing anything this year, and Mitty cannot say the same.”
Devine noted that the girls will be hungry for the championship in the coming year.
“I’ve been at Paly for two years now and we’ve been so close to the title twice,” Devine said. “I think that next year the returning members will be really motivated to step up their training to another level so that we, especially the class of 2011, can leave Paly with a section title.”
Lee thinks that the loss will serve as a learning experience.
“I definitely feel like many of us learned a lot from CCS,” Lee said. “Everyone definitely contributed and our second-place finish behind Mitty will definitely drive our motivation to win CCS next year. Besides, we are tired of these second place trophies, we are ready for the gold.”
The Vikings will have a strong chance at the CCS title in 2011 and will be a formidable adversary in the pool. The Vikings are led by record holders Tosky and Liang who headline a young CCS team that can only improve in the coming year. Palo Alto’s strong finish at CCS capped a successful season marked with a seventh consecutive league title and showed that the Vikings will be a force to be reckoned with when they return next year.