Senior Sabrina Lee dives at the start of the 100-yard butterfly. She would place fourth.
– Ken Wattana
Boasting a roster filled with veteran talent, this was supposed to be the year for the Palo Alto High School girls’ swim team. The Vikings were shooting for their first Central Coast Section title in six years after three consecutive third place finishes, but a dubious disqualification on the first relay forced Paly to settle for second place in a cruel twist of fate. It was a disappointing end to a bright season that saw Paly go undefeated in the dual meet season and win the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League for the ninth consecutive time.
After a strong day of qualifying on Friday at the George F. Haines International Swim Center in Santa Clara, Palo Alto held the lead heading into today’s CCS Swimming and Diving finals. The Vikings only needed to hold off defending CCS champion Archbishop Mitty High School. Paly got a boost when senior Gracie Greenwood capped her high school career with a second place finish in 1-meter diving, scoring 452.95 points. Junior Emma Miller took 16th with a score of 355.85.
Paly got what it thought was the start it needed when seniors Sabrina Lee and Sarah Liang partnered with juniors Laura Cui and Margaret Wenzlau to win the first event, the 200-yard medley relay. The Vikings beat the Mitty relay by 0.4 seconds with a time of 1:45.40. However, the mood quickly turned somber as Paly discovered that an official had disqualified them for an early relay start by Liang. Video evidence showed that Liang had not left early, however the disqualification was not overturned, costing the Vikings 40 points and taking them out of contention for the title. Mitty would need to disqualify one of its relays to give Paly a chance.
Head coach Danny Dye was disappointed in the official’s ruling.
“I did not think the relay was disqualified,” Dye said. “I did not think it was a good call. It’s frustrating when something is taken away from you beyond your control, but that’s sport.”
Despite the dramatic turn of events, the girls rallied with a spirited performance that gave Paly its third consecutive second place finish. Junior superstar Jasmine Tosky dominated the competition in the 200-yard freestyle, winning by four body lengths. Her time of 1:44.20, just off her CCS record of 1:44.11 which she set last year, was six seconds faster than the second place finisher. It would have placed Tosky seventh at the NCAA Division 1 Championships.
In the 200-yard individual medley, Liang battled back from a rough start to the meet by dropping three seconds from her qualifying time to place fourth in 2:01.38. Wenzlau was seventh in 2:07.36.
Freshman Jayna Wittenbrink was ninth in the 50-yard freestyle in 24.66.
Tosky won by a large margin in the 100-yard butterfly in a quick 52.20, still slower than the national high school record of 51.92 she had set on Friday. Tosky had erased the old record of 52.41 that was held by former Stanford swimmer and Olympian, Misty Hyman.
“I decided to swim the 100 just for fun because I wasn’t aiming for any time or anything,” Tosky said. “Of all things I was focusing on my underwater rate and breakouts. I’m actually indifferent about breaking Misty’s record. Sure it’s nice, but I really wasn’t even expecting to get a personal best time since I haven’t been training fly this season.”
Tosky’s time would have placed her sixth at NCAA’s. Wenzlau was sixth in 56.39 while Wittenbrink was 11th in 57.59.
Lee was eighth in the 100-yard freestyle in 52.29.
In the 500-yard freestyle, sophomore Molly Zebker placed sixth in a time of 5:06.06 after trailing for much of the race. Senior Kimberley Hallsted was 12th in 5:12.40.
The Vikings got a victory and a school record in the 200-yard freestyle relay with Wenzlau, Wittenbrink, Liang and Tosky going 1:34.50, just off the CCS record.
In the 100-yard backstroke, Lee was fourth in a time of 57.72. Senior Megan Okada was 15th in 1:01.16.
Liang placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke with a strong performance that highlighted her resiliance and ability to rebound from adversity. She almost caught Mitty’s Eva Chen with a strong finishing kick on the final lap, but was second in 1:02.95. Cui was 13th in 1:07.65.
The team of Lee, Wittenbrink, Zebker and Tosky wrapped up the meet with a third place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Tosky swam a blistering 48.15 anchor leg and almost caught up with the second place relay before she ran out of time.
Paly scored 255 points while Mitty took home its second consecutive title with 274 points. St. Francis High School placed third.
The Vikings will graduate Lee, Liang, Hallsted and Okada from their CCS squad.
Dye remained positive despite falling short of the title yet again.
“I thought they [the girls] swam great,” Dye said.” It was a great two day meet, everybody put everything into it. Second place is phenomenal, I was proud of them. I think the team did a really great job as a whole.”