San Benito swimmers test themselves against the area’s best
competition; Reed advances to CCS Finals in 100-yard backstroke and
Smith makes Consolation Finals in two events
Palo Alto – This was supposed to be their crowning moment. After leading the San Benito swimming team all year, Blane Curtice, David Smith and Shelli Reed would finally get to test themselves against the best.
But at the Central Coast Section Swimming Preliminaries on Friday, only two of the ‘Balers’ stalwarts had that opportunity. While Smith and Reed took the pool at Stanford’s Avery Aquatics Center and excelled, Curtice had to do all he could just to take the starting block.
Hampered by a 102-degree fever that left him shaking, Curtice nevertheless made up his mind to join his teammates in the meet-opening 200-yard medley relay. Fighting off a nose that wouldn’t stop bleeding until just before his start, the San Benito junior showed that athletics are about much more than the final result.
“He’s all heart,” ‘Balers boys head coach Leif Nordstrom admired.
After taking top-ten seeds into the Preliminaries in the 200-yard IM (10th) and 100-yard butterfly (seventh) and looking primed to secure the top-eight finish needed to qualify for today’s CCS Finals, Curtice said that he knew just persevering would be accomplishment enough on this day.
“I started getting sick Thursday and today it’s pretty much full blown,” Curtice said after finishing the meet by swimming a leg of the team’s 400-yard freestyle relay. “I just tried doing my best and getting through today.”
While Curtice had the misfortune of falling ill on the eve of the school year’s most prestigious meet, Reed and Smith ensured that their standout seasons would continue for one more day.
Reed, who qualified for the section meet in all eight individual events, competed in the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard backstroke. Seeded ninth in the butterfly, the freshman managed to break her season-best mark by nearly half of a second. Taking ninth in 59.05, Reed finished one spot off qualifying for today’s finals in the butterfly, but will be the top seed in the consolation finals.
In the 100-yard backstroke, however, Reed did even better. Enjoying San Benito’s highest seed in taking the No. 5 spot into the race, Reed impressively held her seed. Reed’s 59.67 fifth-place finish has her set to wrap up a stellar freshman campaign by competing in the CCS Finals.
Smith also advanced to today’s season finale in two events – the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke. The junior took 17th in the backstroke at 56.22, but it was his huge drop in the freestyle that was the most impressive. Coming into CCS with a season-best time of 24.48, Smith finished in 22:00, jumping from his seed of No. 26 to finish 15th.
“I didn’t think I would do that well today, but I really stepped it up,” the junior said. “I’m pretty excited for (the consolation finals of) the 50 free. I know there’s a couple of mistakes I made that, if I fix ’em, I can improve.”
Joining Smith in the second-day consolation finals will be freshman Brandon Drogemuller. After setting his personal best in an outstanding first-place finish at last week’s Tri-County Athletic League Finals, Drogemuller swam nearly an identical race. The freshman took 14 th in 4:53.42, a time that his coach believes will go even further down.
“I think he’ll be better suited for his consolation heat (today),” said Nordtrom, noting that Drogemuller’s competition in the preliminaries was either well in front or in back of him. “I expect an improvement. He swims to his competition.”
Even though Friday’s competition marked the second-to-last day of the high school season, Nordstrom still left an important slot open for competition. The season-long battle for the fourth member of San Benito’s 200-yard freestyle relay team continued into the CCS Preliminaries. With the team’s 13 th-seeded relay squad set to advance to the Finals if it could finish in the top 16, John Kaplanis and James Schafer hoped to gain that last spot.
Kaplanis, by breaking the 24-second barrier in swimming the freestyle leg of the team’s medley relay, beat out his teammate and will join Curtice and David and Joel Smith in the 200-yard relay today. After losing the spot in the Preliminaries to Schafer last week, Kaplanis was thrilled to get it back just in time.
“At TCAL’s, I just blew it,” Kaplanis said. “I worked all week to get it back. Now that I beat out James, I have a chance to swim (today).
“I feel out of place because David and these other guys have been doing it since freshman year, but it’s pretty cool to be able to say I swim with them.”
For the Lady ‘Balers, the team’s 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relay teams finished 28th and 29th, respectively.
Freshman Lacey Larson and sophomores Katie Buzzetta and Jayme Telles joined Reed on the opening relay, and junior Stephanie Rodriguez teamed with Buzzetta, Larson and Reed in the final event.
By taking so many swimmers to the section meet despite the team’s extreme youth, San Benito girls coach Stephanie Pursley knows that even brighter days are ahead for the Lady ‘Balers.
“It’s exciting,” Pursley said. “I think we had a really good season. Next year, we’re only losing one senior. It’s just only room for improvement.”
As the team packed up its bags and headed to its hotel on the eve of the Finals, Telles said Day No. 1 of the CCS meet was a real success for the ‘Balers.
“I think it was a lot of fun. It was pretty exciting seeing how good everyone in this area is. It helps you find different things to improve on.”
Asked how she liked her team’s chances with so many returnees next year, Telles said, “I think we’re going to be really good.”
