Strong individual performances, along with an impressive
comeback through the relays, pushed the San Benito Aquatics team to
a sixth-place finish last weekend at the Coast Valley Aquatics
League Short Course Championships in Morgan Hill.
Morgan Hill – Strong individual performances, along with an impressive comeback through the relays, pushed the San Benito Aquatics team to a sixth-place finish last weekend at the Coast Valley Aquatics League Short Course Championships in Morgan Hill.
The SBA Sea Dragons entered the relays in seventh place out of 10 teams, 34 points behind the Morgan Hill Makos. But strong placings from the SBA relay teams helped leapfrog them into sixth place in team points.
When the CVAL championships were complete, SBA finished just four points ahead of Morgan Hill for sixth.
“All those points really helped,” said Cathy Larson, who along with Christine Schafer, are the two head coaches for SBA. “The relays happened last (at the meet), and that really put us up over Morgan Hill.”
Three relay teams – the girls 8-and-under 100-yard freestyle, the girls 9-10 200 freestyle, and the boys 11-12 200 freestyle – all took third place in their respective races.
The girls 15-18 200 freestyle, made up of Shelli Reed, Demi Gatrell, Katie Buzzetta and Megan Geary, took second in their race and continued the comeback for SBA, shrinking Morgan Hill’s 34-point lead.
The foursome clocked a time of 1:44.26, and were narrowly edged by the team from Monterey Bay, who finished first in 1:43.58.
Individually, SBA’s Elizabeth Fleming shined in the pool, winning the high-point trophy after taking first place in all five events she entered.
While Fleming cruised at the CVAL championship, her teammates also managed to follow suit, and two of the races ended up as a clean 1-2-3 sweep for SBA.
In the girls 8-and-under 50 freestyle, Fleming finished first in 40.37 seconds. Teammate Kenzie Thomas took second in 47.97, while SBA’s Vanessa Garcia followed for a third-place finish in a time of 54.86.
In the 8-and-under 25 freestyle, the three girls matched their performance from the 50 free. Fleming (17.62), Thomas (22.29) and Garcia (24.14) finished in first, second and third place, respectively.
Fleming, though, continued to add to her already impressive day. The six-year-old also took first in the 25 backstroke in 23.18, with Thomas taking second in 28.03. Fleming also took the top spot in the 25 butterfly in 26.15, with Thomas nabbing third in 37.01. In the 25 breaststroke, Fleming fared strong again, clocking a first-place time of 27.06.
While Fleming took home the 8-and-under high-point trophy, SBA’s Shelli Reed did the same at the 15-16 age group.
Reed had four first-place finishes, as well as a second place at the CVAL championships. She took first in the 50 freestyle (25.08), first in the 100 freestyle (53.46) and first in the 100 backstroke (1:00.82).
In the 100-yard butterfly, Reed took approximately five seconds off of her preliminary time, clocking a 1:03.01 in the prelims, and a 58.51 in the final, finishing first. Additionally, the 58.51 was recognized as a Pacific Recordable Time.
“They took first and second in everything they swam,” Larson said of Fleming and Reed. “They’re just very talented swimmers.”
Larson also highlighted Athena Gonzalez, 14, who went from a time of 2:41 in the 100 backstroke two weeks ago, to clocking a 2:18.89 at the CVAL championships.
“She improved all of her times by just chunks of seconds,” Larson said. “To have that much improvement, she was just beaming.”
On the boys side, Blane Curtice, 18, took home a pair of second-place finishes in the 100 breastroke in a time of 1:05.48, as well as the 100 freestyle in 51.30.
Matthew Thomas and Adrian Martinez placed in all five events they competed in, and Joshua McIntyre did really well, Larson said.
Zachary Tolentino took first in the 50 freestyle with a time of 29.99.
“He broke 30 (seconds),” Larson said. “That’s a big deal in the swimming world.”
