Personal bests, CIF qualifying times highlight Ramona’s swim tri-meet
By Joe Naiman
Although the Bulldog boys and girls swim teams faced losses at the March 14 tri-meet at Grossmont High School, several swimmers met CIF qualifying standards and many achieved personal best times.
The fact that Ramona’s tri-meet opponents, Scripps Ranch and Grossmont, are both in Division I for CIF meet purposes, while the Bulldogs are in Division II, made the competition even tougher for coach Jolyn Yanez’s swimmers.
“They were really being pushed to the next level,” Yanez said.
Since the meet counted primarily for CIF qualifying times, the scoring system, which involves points given for all but the final finisher, utilized all nine individual swimmers or all six relay quartets rather than the top five individuals or top three relay squads as is the case for dual meets. Scripps Ranch’s girls had 219 points compared to 168 for Grossmont and 125 for Ramona. The Falcons also won the boys competition, scoring 211 points with Grossmont tallying 172 and Ramona accumulating 118.
“Scripps Ranch really came out in a big way,” Yanez said.
All three of the wins by Ramona’s girls involved automatic qualifying times. Gina Lucas won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:12.33 and the 100-yard freestyle in 54.99 seconds. The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Paulina Bernd, Kaylin Van Tol, Jocelyn Schwegler, and Lucas won its race in 3:59.58.
Ramona’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of Ashlee Holabird, Jessie Gilbert, Brianna Campbell, and Lucas finished second while posting a consideration time of 1:54.36.
“The girls actually, even though they didn’t come away with a win, had a really tremendous meet,” Yanez said. “They’re doing a great job really coming together and supporting one another as a team.”
The level of competition could perhaps be illustrated by the boys’ 200-yard freestyle relay in which both Scripps Ranch squads and both Grossmont quartets finished ahead of Ramona’s top group consisting of Spencer Schwegler, Noah LaGoe, Quintin LaRosa, and Ian Jacoway. The Ramona time of 1:46.88 was still a CIF consideration mark.
Ramona’s 200-yard medley relay team of Garrett Glaudini, Cory Davison, Brandon Powell, and Isaac Gross finished second while posting an automatic qualifying time of 1:48.46. Davison was third in the 100-yard breaststroke with a consideration time of 1:09.97.
Glaudini and Powell each won two individual events. Glaudini’s marks of 1:59.51 in the 200-yard individual medley and 56.50 seconds in the 100-yard backstroke are both automatic qualifying times. Powell’s time of 57.37 seconds in the 100-yard butterfly is an automatic time while his 5:21.04 in the 500-yard freestyle is a consideration time.
The Bulldogs will host San Marcos in a non-league dual meet on Friday, March 22, and then travel to Mission Viejo for Saturday’s invitational competition.