The Metro Conference continues to be represented at the California state swimming championships.
Bonita Vista High School’s Julissa Arzave ventured north three times, coming home with a fifth-place medal as a junior year last year.
The Eastlake Titans qualified two relay teams and two individuals this year in a show of force. With the bulk of the qualifiers being underclassmen, the Titans expect to make repeat trips north in coming years.
“They did very well for a group of underclassmen,” EHS head coach Steve Wiggs summed up. “It was a great introduction to what the CIF state championship meet has to offer.
“There are some amazingly fast swimmers there.”
The two-day meet, held last weekend at the Clovis Olympic Swim Complex at Clovis West High School in Clovis, started with prelim swims last Friday and concluded with championship and consolation finals on Saturday.
Forty swimmers from throughout the state qualified in each event through times posted at their respective section championships meets.
The 16 swimmers with the top prelim times in each event advanced to the finals the next day.
Freshman Emily Lundgren was the only swimmer from the Eastlake group to advance to Saturday’s finals.
The reigning San Diego Section champion in the girls 200-yard individual medley, she was seeded 10th in the event for the state prelims. She swam about a second off of her best time to tie for 16th with a time of 2:056.26, which meant she compete in a swim-off tiebreaker.
The tiebreaker took place at the end of the prelim meet, creating both excitement and extra stress for the day.
But Lundgren kept her emotions in check to prevail by posting a 2:05.25 to easily win the swim-off against Cupertino freshman Mia Tandingan (2:10.72) to advance to the consolation finals.
It was no easy task after competing in four events — two individual events and two relays — while being on the deck for approximately seven hours.
Wiggs called her performance “a big deal.”
“Especially as a freshman,” he noted.
With a day to reflect on becoming the first Titan to advance to the top 16 finalists, Lundgren didn’t let the golden opportunity to showcase her talent go to waste and proceeded to blow away previous personal best times to win the consolation finals in a lifetime best 2:03.37.
She raced in the outside lane to win the consolation heat, besting consolation runner-up Valley Christian junior Mai McKenna (2:03.48).
Overall, Lundgren posted the sixth-best time on the day in both the championship and consolation heats.
Monta Vista senior Zoie Hartman won the 200 IM championship heat in 1:55.29
The ninth-place finish set the standard for future Titan swimmers to follow.
“Emily swam out of her mind in the 200 IM consolation final,” Wiggs explained. “She went from being seeded 16th to winning the consolation final. She dropped two seconds in the meet and one second off of her best time.”
Lundgren and teammate Cecilia Hagewood both qualified for the state prelims in the 100 breaststroke after placing second and third, respectively, at the preceding Division I section finals.
However, neither Titan swimmer advanced past the state prelims.
Lundgren ended 28th in the field with a time of 1:04.57 while Hagewood finished 33rd in 1:05.26, both just off their best times.
The times posted by the pair were actually rather fast, especially coming after a long day of travel and competing for the third consecutive weekend in large-scale meets.
Lundgren and Hagewood joined forces with teammates Pia Davila and Aranza Martha to compete in both the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays in the prelims.
The two relay teams were very close to their best times but didn’t make the top 16 to compete in Saturday’s finals.
However, the relay units did post respectable finishes with 27th place in the in the 200 freestyle relay (1:49.10) and 28th place in the 400 freestyle relay (3:36.16).
“The girls swam right at their best times,” Wiggs noted. “Our lead-off swimmer in the 400 freestyle relay, Aranza Martha, had a personal best time of 54:28.”
State champion
Torrey Pines recorded some phenomenal swims at last weekend’s state meet to place second overall among girls teams with 165 points.
Sophomore Mia Kragh became the first swimmer from the San Diego Section to win a state title after topping the field in the girls 100 butterfly event with a section- and state-record time of 52.26.
Kragh helped the Falcons win the 200 medley relay with a new state record time of 1:41.20 and place second in the 200 freestyle relay with a new section record time of 1:33.74.
Kragh finished sixth in the 50 freestyle (23.26) to cap a power-packed individual performance.
Torrey Pines senior Kira Crage finished seventh in the 100 freestyle (50.66) and eighth in the 50 freestyle (23.31).
Torrey Pines closed out the meet with an eighth-place finish in the girls 400 freestyle relay (3:28.76).
Bishop’s senior Pierce Dietze finished fifth in the boys 200 freestyle finals (1:37.58) and sixth in the 100 freestyle finals (45.26).
Vista senior Jaeden Calder finished seventh in the boys 50 freestyle (20.89) while Pacific Ridge sophomore Mateo Parker finished eighth in 20.95.
Torrey Pines (1:32.43) and Bishop’s (1:32.58) finished seventh and eighth, respectively, in the boys 200 medley relay.
Santa Margarita won the girls team title with 230 points while San Ramon Valley won the boys team title with 177 points to edge runner-up Oak Ridge (174 points).
Bishop’s led the section’s boys team with a ninth-place finish with 76 points while Torrey Pines was 12th with 55 points.
