The Paly boys’ swim team secured a 92-91 victory over Saratoga High School in a dual meet on Wednesday at Saratoga.
“It was a close one,” senior co-captain Mark Higgins said. “Everybody gave it everything they had.”
Head coach Danny Dye was not surprised by the results of the meet.
“It went almost exactly the way I planned,” Dye said. “They [Saratoga] have great swimmers. They swam hard, and our guys swam hard. It was exciting, and that’s what you want in a meet.”
One advantage the Vikings had over Saratoga was diving. The Paly boys’ diving team raked in 13 points for the Vikings, giving them an edge over Saratoga, whose team did not have divers.
“The whole meet was pretty intense,” freshman Byron Sanborn said. “Everything was really close. It [the score] kept going back and forth.”
Higgins took the lead for the Vikings in the 200-yard freestyle. Higgins placed first with a time of 1 minute, 41.52 seconds, a season best. Higgins also placed second in the 100-yard freestyle, with a time of 47.33 seconds.
All three swimmers in the 200 yard individual medley swam well, according to Dye. Sanborn placed second in the IM with a time of 2:04.34. Freshmen Rollin Lau and Charles Zhang placed third and fourth, respectively. Lau finished with a time of 2:08.13, and Zhang finished with a time of 2:10.49.
“Danny [Dye] came and told me that this was really important,” Zhang said of his race. “I told myself, this is it – I’m going to do it. And I did pretty well.”
Senior co-captain Tim Wenzlau, Higgins, sophomore Arseny Kotov and Sanborn finished first in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a combined time of 1:30.79. Paly also took third place, with senior co-captain Jamie Nakamura, junior Ian Schubert, junior Bobby Abbott and freshman Corso Rosati finishing with a combined time of 1:39.35.
Sanborn won the 100-yard breaststroke after a close race. He finished with a time of 1:01.43, less than a second ahead of senior Brad Murray from Saratoga, who finished in 1:02.14.
The Vikings placed second in the 400-yard medley relay, securing their victory over Saratoga. Higgins, Nakamura, Shiang and Lau placed finished the race with a combined time of 3:27.78.
“It [the meet] was a chess game,” Dye said. “It’s not just the guys who win, but the little things. It’s the little things that make the team.”
Strong swims across the board helped Paly win the meet, according to Dye.
Dye is confident in the team’s ability to do well at the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League championship meet in May.
“We’re sitting good,” Dye said. “We have a good chance to be League champions if we take care of business.”
The Viking’s final dual meet is against Homestead High School and will be held after school on Friday at Paly.