Shorthanded Bulldog boys lose swim meet to Ravens
The lack of enough varsity swimmers for a complete team cost Ramona High School’s boys their league match April 13 against Canyon Crest.
The Ravens took a 94-76 victory over the Bulldogs in the meet at Del Norte High School, which does not have varsity athletics this year but joined the Bulldogs and Ravens for a tri-meet at the junior varsity level.
“It was actually really close,” said Ramona varsity coach Frank Yturralde.
Ramona’s varsity has only 11 swimmers. Individual swimmers are limited in dual meets to two individual events and two relay events.
In a dual meet schools enter up to three swimmers for each of the eight individual events, and scores reflect the top five finishers. A school may enter up to two relay teams in each of the three relay events with the top three finishers being scored. The combination of the event limit and scoring system requires at least 12 swimmers for full scoring potential in individual events and at least 12 swimmers for full scoring potential in relay events.
In individual events, the first-place swimmer’s team receives 6 points. Four points are given for second place, 3 points are awarded for third, fourth place is worth 2 points, and the fifth-place swimmer’s team earns 1 point.
“We were scoring points,” Yturralde said.
The Bulldogs took first place in two of the 11 events: Collin Torsak won the 50-yard freestyle race and the Bulldogs had the fastest 200-yard freestyle relay team.
Ramona took second, third and fourth in the individual 200-yard freestyle race and second, third and fifth in the 200-yard individual medley.
Ramona entered two swimmers in four individual races, including the 100-yard and 500-yard freestyle events, where the Bulldogs took second and third in both.
Although all 11 swimmers were present against Canyon Crest, the previous week’s Spring Break had deprived some of those swimmers of practice.
“We definitely did not swim our best times,” Yturralde said. “They’re getting back in shape.”
The loss gave the Bulldogs a 2-2 record in dual meets both in Valley League competition and overall for the season.