Stevens wins100 free at league meet
Ramona High School junior Breann Stevens won the girls 100-yard freestyle race at the Valley League swim meet.
Stevens had a time of 54.2 seconds at the league finals May 16 at Mount Carmel High School. Ramona took three of the top four positions in the 100-yard freestyle with senior Lauren Gantzer finishing third and sophomore Ellie Carrano placing fourth.
Ramona took third among the eight Valley League teams at the meet. In dual meets divers are not scored unless both teams have divers, but divers’ scores count toward team scores at the league meet. Ramona does not have a diver but earned more swimming points than second-place Westview.
“I’m very excited what they did,” said Coach Stacey Dusseault. “Everybody just swam some really great races.”
The league meet was also the last chance to earn qualifying times for the CIF meet. The Bulldogs will have 14 entries in individual events at the CIF meet and all three Ramona girls relay teams qualified for the CIF competition.
“I think we should do excellent at CIF,” Dusseault said.
Regardless of the number of events in which a swimmer qualifies for the CIF meet, each swimmer is limited to two individual events and two relay events. Stevens, Gantzer, and Carrano will all compete at the CIF meet in both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle races. Juniors Taylor Shinnick and Brice Maruna will go to the CIF meet for the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle events. Senior Autie Hillis will compete in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke. Sophomore Madi Lanz will race in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard butterfly.
The seeding times for the CIF meet are based on the best time for the season rather than times at the league meet. During a March 20 dual meet against Mount Carmel, Ramona won the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:42.67. That time was faster than Mount Carmel’s time when they touched out Ramona in the league finals, and Ramona will be seeded first in that event at the CIF meet.
The Sundevils, who won the league championship, also beeat Ramona in the 400-yard freestyle relay, giving the Bulldogs two second-place finishes in the relay races. Ramona’s 200-yard medley relay team placed fourth at the league meet.
Mount Carmel hosted the league preliminaries May 15 and the league finals May 16. Only five Ramona swims in the preliminary heats did not advance to the finals.
“That’s pretty good, I think, overall,” Dusseault said.
In addition to her win in the 100-yard freestyle, Stevens finished second to Mount Carmel’s Danielle Spence in the 200-yard freestyle race. Shinnick was fourth in the 200-yard freestyle and Maruna placed seventh.
Spence also won the 500-yard freestyle. Maruna gave Ramona fourth-place points in that race while Shinnick earned fifth-place tallies.
The Valley League swimmers also include Nicole Parmenter of San Marcos, who won the 100-yard backstroke and also the 100-yard butterfly at last year’s CIF championships. Lanz placed second to Parmenter in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:00.3.
“She pushed Nicole really hard,” Dusseault said.
Lanz also placed third in the 200-yard individual medley.
Three Bulldogs reached the championship race in the 50-yard freestyle. Gantzer finished third, Carrano placed fifth, and Hillis was seventh.
Hillis was Ramona’s top finisher in the 100-yard backstroke, placing fifth with a season best time of 1:04.6.
The only event in which Ramona did not have at least one representative in the championship race was the 100-yard breaststroke. Sophomore Sydney Davison reached the consolation finals and placed 12th.
The CIF finals will be held May 23 at Rancho Bernardo High School.
“I think we’re set for a really strong CIF, so we’re excited about that,” Dusseault said.