Boys swim sets 2 school records
Ramona High School’s boys swim team set two school records at the Valley League meet.
The league finals May 16 saw the boys 200-yard medley relay team finish with a time of 1:44.83 while Alan Williams set a Ramona 100-yard backstroke record at 56.46 seconds.
The Bulldogs finished third among the eight teams at the league meet.
“I’m happy with the whole performance,” said Coach Frank Yturralde. “All around everybody dropped times tremendously. It was very rewarding for the boys to see what they could do.”
The league meet also provided a final chance to obtain qualifying times for the CIF meet. Ramona will be competing at the CIF meet in all three relay races, in ten individual swimming events, and at the CIF diving competition.
The league diving meet was held May 14 at Fallbrook High School and included divers from all three North County Conference leagues. Ramona freshman Josh Sammons scored 371 points on 11 dives to place second among Valley League divers and third among all North County Conference competitors. Because the two divers with higher scores compete for CIF Division I schools, Sammons will be seeded first among Division II divers at the CIF meet.
In addition to Sammons and the 200-yard medley relay, 200-yard freestyle relay, and 400-yard freestyle relay teams, Ramona will be represented at the CIF meet by Williams, Daniel Thorngren, and Mike Bernas in the 100-yard backstroke, Kari Gonter and Stephen Donellan in the 500-yard freestyle, James Oneto in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard breaststroke, Albert Valentin in the 100-yard butterfly, Collin Torsak in the 50-yard freestyle, and Williams in the 200-yard freestyle.
The league preliminary heats were held May 15 and the league finals took place May 16, both at Mount Carmel.
“The weekend went very well,” Yturralde said. The boys dropped their times considerably. Everybody that swam Friday or Saturday did their personal best. That includes JV.”
While dual meets allow a school three individual entries per event, a team can field up to four swimmers in each event at the league meet and most schools utilize junior varsity swimmers, which provides those youngsters with varsity-level experience as well as increases a team’s chances of lower-level position points.
Ramona’s 200-yard medley relay team erased the 2006 school record of 1:45.23 while taking third place at the league meet. The 200-yard freestyle relay team placed fourth, and their time of 1:34.74 was a season best by three seconds. The Bulldogs’ 400-yard freestyle relay team also had a fourth-place finish and a season best, completing their race in 3:37.46.
Williams also finished third in his race despite a school record.
The previous mark for the 100-yard backstroke was 57.32 seconds, set in 2004 by Rosten Veater. The 100-yard backstroke event also saw Ramona take the top two positions in the consolation race; Thorngren’s time of 59.97 seconds gave him first in the consolation finals and a ninth-place finish while Bernas had a time of 1:03.19 to earn tenth place and second in the consolation race. Thorngren and Bernas also set personal records with their times.
Valentin’s time of 54.6 seconds in the 100-yard butterfly gave him third place in a race where the winning time was 54.4 seconds.
“That was by far the best race,” Yturralde said. “You didn’t know who won.”
Torsak provided Ramona with another third-place finish, taking 22.84 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle. Valentine earned tenth-place points in the consolation race, which he completed in 23.9 seconds.
Oneto was fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:05.13 while Torsak finished eighth in that race with a time of 1:07.69. Both were personal records for that event.
In the 200-yard individual freestyle race, Williams dropped five seconds off his previous best time and finished the championship contest in seventh place at 1:52.30.
Gonter finished seventh in the 200-yard individual medley while Oneto was eighth in the championship race.
Donellan finished eighth in the 500-yard freestyle championship race with a time of 5:32.71. Although Gonter’s time in the preliminary heats relegated him to the consolation race, he won that contest with a time of 5:11.24. Junior varsity callup Ted Dean also reached the consolation finals.
“I’m very happy with what they did this weekend,” Yturralde said. “They came ready to race and they raced.”
The CIF finals will take place May 23 at Rancho Bernardo High School.