CVHS swims swimmingly at WACC
Castro Valley swimmers were left with sunburnt shoulders, goggle marks, and suit tans after participating in the West Alameda County Conference (WACC) Swimming and Diving Championship meet on April 29 at Chabot College.
Overall, CVHS girls placed fifth out of eight with 245 points, the winners being the Berkeley High Yellowjackets. The boys placed third out of nine with 364 points, a slim gap to the two first place winners, the Bishop O’Dowd Dragons and the Alameda Hornets, with a tie of 378.
“We had some awesome results!” said coach Jaqueline Stone.
A few star swimmers qualified for NCS, a meet which includes schools all across California’s northern coast. Junior Samantha Li qualified in the 200 free and 100 free. Senior Alyssa Zaydman advanced in the 100 breast and 50 free. Freshman Simon Li qualified in the 100 free. Senior Colin Sutedja advanced in the 200 Individual Medley and 100 breast. Senior Elijah Williams reached NCS in the 100 free and 50 free.
CVHS relay teams that raced at NCS include the girls 200 free and 400 free relay, composed of Corrine Arakawa, Samantha Li, Jennifer Mi, Jamie Xie, and Alyssa Zaydman. CVHS boys qualified for the 200 medley, 200 free, and 400 free relay. These relay teams are composed of Nathan Arakawa, Simon Li, Kyle Mognoga, Travis Orem, Colin Sutedja, Marcus Thai, Elijah Williams, and Gavin Willits.
NCS took place Friday May 6 at the Concord Community Pool. Out of the CVHS team, junior Samantha Li advanced to finals in the 100 free and 200 free, where she took second place in both events! Boys 200 free relay composed of Nathan Arakawa, Simon Li, Colin Sutedja, and Elijah Williams, also reached finals and placed tenth! Samantha Li qualified for the state championships, taking place at the Clovis Olympic Swim Complex in Fresno on May 12-14.
“I am very excited to go to states, and hope to get best times,” shared Samantha Li.
I’m really shocked how Samantha could do swim practice everyday after school and still could keep with her work. She is really passionate about swimming and always do her best, so I wasn’t surprised that she would get second plac. She always do her best in everything and even if she didn’t get a good score, she would always try to get a good score. I’m really proud of her that she got second place.