The Paly swim team got off to a good start this season with its strong performance at the Los Altos Invitational, a non-scored meet, on March 6. Coming off an overwhelming victory at Aragon March 4, the JV Girls would have placed first overall at the Los Altos Invitational, while all the other Paly teams would have placed second if the competition were scored.

"The team did very well in a hard, long day," said Paly head coach Danny Dye. "They hung on and finished off with strong times after eight hours. The team really showed who they were. We had some tough competition like Menlo Atherton, Los Altos, and Bellarmine. If this was a league meet, varsity girls would only have lost by 60 points, and the varsity boys only lost by 200 points when Bellarmine has been beating everybody by 500 in CCS."

Despite a delayed start due to computer malfunctions and a false fire alarm in the middle of the meet, Paly’s coaches and swimmers had high expectations for their performance at the meet. Not even a last minute rule change forbidding flip turns transitioning from backstroke to breaststroke on the individual medley or the absence of some critical swimmers discouraged the Vikings, who performed well.

Prior to the meet, coach Jeff Peterson said, "I expect people to get good results. We’ll do well. This meet is just a chance to get some good early season swims in."

Varsity girls’ captain Remy Champion shared Peterson’s optimism. "We’re going to get good times this meet," Champion said. "We’ve had a good, hard five weeks of training and we’re going to go fast."

The Paly boys faced tough competition from Bellarmine, who have consistently dominated the Central Coast Section championships for the past several years.

"In CCS, whoever gets second gets the honor, and Bellarmine takes home another trophy," varsity swimmer Stuart Mayo said.

The largest obstacle to Paly this season is the pool construction, which has denied Paly any home pool meets and forced them to practice at Stanford.

"The loss of the pool has been a big deal, but it shows the character and resolve of this team," Dye said. "The fact they come out here and perform at practice shows their strength and resolve."

After Paly’s victory last Saturday, all four teams went on to defeat Monta Vista in their first league meet on March 10. The Paly swimmers also beat Menlo Atherton yesterday, and will go on to face Homestead on Thursday.