The Palo Alto High School varsity girls’ swim team is planning to take the Santa Clara Valley Athletic Leage by storm after securing its first dual meet victory over Los Gatos High School, 129-54, on Friday at Paly.
“The girls did really well,” head coach Danny Dye said. “I’m happy with their swims. The challenge is coming in and swimming tired.”
With a rigorous practice schedule, the team did not rest up prior to the meet against Los Gatos.
“We’re all swimming tired,” senior co-captain Claire Guo said. “We’ve all been soldiering through. We just keep going.”
One of the standouts at the Los Gatos meet was sophomore Jasmine Tosky, according to Dye. Tosky stole first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1 minute, 54.45 seconds, and in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 53.50 seconds.
Sophomore Margaret Wenzlau led her team to victory in the 100-yard butterfly, placing first with a time of 58.25 seconds. Freshman Molly Zebker followed, taking second place, with a time of 58.84 seconds, and senior co-captain Kaitlyn Tracy took third place, with a time of 1:03.69 seconds.
“It [the meet] was good,” Zebker said. “I’m excited to keep swimming fast and winning.”
The Vikings also swept the 100-yard breaststroke, with junior Sarah Liang leading off a 1-2-3 victory, clocking in at 1:07.63. She was followed by sophomores Laura Cui and Madeline Berger in second and third, respectively. Cui finished in 1:11.42, and Berger clocked in at 1:11.90.
“I think it’s [this season is] going to be fun,” Liang said. “We got off to a strong start in training this year.”
Paly’s relays also finished well, with the “A” relay teams taking first in the 200-yard medley relay, the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay.
“I think our team works really well, especially when we’re all encouraging each other,” sophomore Alex Lin said.
Dye plans to keep yardage up in practice and train the team hard before its next dual meet against Monta Vista High School.
“I think that the girls are in a great spot for the next meet,” Dye said. “I’m going to keep challenging them in practice, keep the yardage up, and teach them how to race tired.”
“They’re [Monta Vista is] our biggest league rival,” Guo said. “But we’re feeling really good right now. We’re ready for them.”
The Vikings face off against Monta Vista after school on Thursday at Paly.