For the second consecutive year, the San Benito girls swimming team’s hopes of a league title came down to the final race – 400-yard freestyle relay. Needing to finish in the top four, the Balers – led by seniors Caitlin Schafer and Rachel Estep – took second and a league title at Alvarez High on Friday.
It was redemption for the team that came a disqualification short from a fourth-straight title a year ago.
“The girls wanted this really badly,” SBHS head coach Christine Schafer said. “Rachel and Caitlin, it’s their senior year and they are going on to CCS. But they really wanted this to happen. They worked for it all year long. We have a couple of freshman that made a big difference. We have some depth there in the middle. Its a huge difference.”
The second place finish in the closing relay gave the Balers 316 points – 24 more than second place Salinas.
“The kids dug in,” Schafer said. “I’m so proud of them. When they got here today, there were all sort of little things going on. But they rose to it and they weren’t going to let anything get to them and they were going to keep their focus.”
The boys team meanwhile surprised Schafer with a second place finish behind the Cowboys. No boy swimmer won an event, but they remained consistent throughout the day to earn a second place finish.
“We have literally one and a half plus swimmers while Palma, Salinas and Alvarez have multiple,” Schafer said. “Our kids are kicking butt and taking prisoners.”
The biggest boon for the Balers came from their strong finish in the diving competition. Jordan Dain finished in second with a score of 342.20, while teammates Dakota Nix (318.60) and Tyler Scibuola (301.65) finished in the top five to earn CCS berths.
The girls team, though, dominated the top of the standings at the MBL finals. Schafer took home two titles (50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle), while San Benito started the day with a first-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay.
With the league title, San Benito will send four individuals to the Central Coast Section finals, which begin Friday. Schafer will swim in the 50 and 100 freestyle. Rachel Estep will compete in the 100 backstroke for the second year in a row. Haley Larson (200 I.M.) and Gracie Larson (50 freestyle) will also compete. The Balers will also send teams for all three relays.
The Balers hope to continue their success over the weekend, Schafer said.
“We are going to recoup as best we can Monday and Tuesday and go from there,” she said.
The CCS competition begins at 2:30 p.m. Friday.
Pacific Division
The Christopher swim team wasted no time at the Monterey Bay League’s Pacific Division finals Friday pulling away from its competition in the pool with relative ease.
The boys team dominated by finishing with eight championships, including two individual titles from Jacob Holm, who win the 500 freestyle and 100 butterfly. Holm also participated in the team’s championships in the 200 freestyle and medley relays with Zac Syth, Matting Higginbotham and Steveo Hadju.
Those victories gave the Cougars an easy league title, routing the field with 389 points. The girls team finished the sweep with a narrow 25 points over Gilroy High.
On the girls side, Sabrina Seery (100 freestyle) and Natalie Garcia (500 freestyle) took first place. The girls 200 freestyle relay (Garcia, Seery, Bella Marquez and Kristen Frantzich) and 400 freestyle relay (Garcia, Allison Taylor, Shelby O’Hara and Hannah Marquez) also took first.
Both championships were the schools first league titles.
For Gilroy, Anna Brolin swam well for the Mustangs. The sophomore finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke and first in the 100-yard butterfly. Her strong times helped Gilroy take second in the girls’ Pacific standings.
