Girls swim to send 18 to CIF meet
Ramona High School’s girls swim team will have 18 entries at the CIF meet this week.
The Bulldogs will be represented at the CIF meet in all three relay races and by eight different swimmers in individual events.
The CIF preliminary heats will take place today at Coronado High School with those qualifying for the finals returning to Coronado High School on Saturday.
The Bulldogs finished third in the Valley League meet, which was held at Del Norte High School and included preliminaries May 14 and finals May 15. Ramona set a league meet record in the 400-yard freestyle relay race while also winning the 200-yard freestyle relay.
“It went really well,” said Ramona coach Jolyn Yanez.
Although Mount Carmel would have won the meet without diving points, Ramona’s lack of a diver cost the Bulldogs second place as Westview’s divers gave the Wolverines enough of a cushion over the Bulldogs while Ramona had more swimming points than Westview.
The final league standings are based on both the standings for dual meets and the standings in the league meet. Ramona, Mount Carmel, and Westview all had 6-1 dual meet records to enter the league meet in a three-way tie for first place.
Mount Carmel set the league meet record for the 400-yard freestyle relay at last year’s league meet, but the Ramona quartet of junior Katherine Abbott, freshmen Lisse Litka-Baughman and Gina Lucas, and senior Breann Stevens swam this year’s race in 3:40.30 to set the new meet record.
Ramona’s win in the 200-yard freestyle relay took junior Madi Lanz, junior Ellie Carrano, Lucas, and Stevens 1:42.96.
Ramona’s 200-yard medley relay team of Litka-Baughman, Abbott, Lanz, and senior Taylor Shinnick finished third with a time of 1:57.11.
Litka-Baughman also set a team record in the 100-yard backstroke, finishing second at the league meet with a time of 1:02.54. On March 16 Lucas swam the backstroke in 1:02.90 during a dual meet at Mount Carmel to set the previous record. The league meet’s 100-yard backstroke also saw senior Brice Maruna reach the consolation finals and finish 11th with a time of 1:09.44.
Lucas had a time of 1:09.79 in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing second and touching the wall 1/100 of a second behind the winner. Abbott finished sixth in that race with a time of 1:13.25.
Abbott was second in the 200-yard individual medley, taking 2:17.44 to swim the four events. Lanz had a time of 2:24.57 to place sixth.
Shinnick was third in the 500-yard freestyle race with a time of 5:36.66 while Maruna’s time of 5:40.89 was worth fourth place.
In a dual meet a team can enter up to three swimmers per individual event, but teams at the league meet can enter up to four swimmers per event so coaches utilize junior varsity swimmers for a chance at points as well as for experience for subsequent years.
Freshman Jessi Gilbert swam the 500-yard freestyle at the league meet and earned 15th place with a time of 6:32.27.
Stevens took third in the 50-yard freestyle at 25.12 seconds while Carrano was fifth at 26.17 seconds. In the 100-yard freestyle Stevens had the third-place time of 54.65 seconds while Carrano earned fifth place with a swim of 56.64 seconds.
Lucas’ time of 1:00.21 placed third in the 100-yard backstroke.
Lanz was fifth in that race at 1:01.34. Junior Sydney Davison swam the consolation finals and placed 11th with a time of 1:09.90, which was a consideration time for the CIF meet but which did not qualify for the preliminaries.
In the 200-yard freestyle race, Litka-Baughman had a time of 2:03.77 to place fourth while Shinnick was eighth at 2:10.42.
A swimmer is limited to two individual events and two relay races at the CIF meet regardless of how many automatic qualifying times she posts. Relay teams qualify as a team and the swimmers at the CIF meet do not need to be those who posted the qualifying time.
Ramona will participate in the CIF meet in all three relay races.
The Bulldogs will be without a backstroke entrant as well as without a diver at the CIF meet. Stevens and Carrano will swim the 50-yard freestyle. Stevens, Carrano, and Abbott will participate in the 100-yard freestyle. Shinnick and Litka-Baughman will compete in the 200-yard freestyle. Shinnick, Litka-Baughman, and Maruna are entered in the 500-yard freestyle.
Abbott and Lanz will represent Ramona in the 200-yard individual medley. Lanz and Lucas will contest the 100-yard butterfly. Lucas will be the sole Bulldog in the 100-yard breaststroke.