Ramona High girls swim posts victories over Oceanside, Classical Academy

By Joe Naiman

Ramona High School’s girls swim team traveled to Brook Street Pool for a victorious April 23 dual meet against Oceanside before beating Classical Academy at home on April 25.

A regulation pool for a high school swim meet measures 25 yards in length, and Ramona has such a pool. Brook Street Pool has a length of 33-1/3 yards, which forces adjustments in distance.

Since the Brook Street Pool distances don’t convert to personal bests or CIF meet qualifying times, Ramona coach Jolyn Yanez split up some of her relay teams and had swimmers compete in races other than their specialties.

“I just didn’t want them getting highly analytical,” Yanez said.

The Bulldogs’ 90-73 victory over Oceanside was a 32-30 lead after the 66-2/3-yard freestyle race, which is normally a 50-yard contest. Ramona’s first finisher, Cassie Bernas, was third overall with a time of 41.63 seconds after making the adjustment from a 50-yard sprint to the additional yardage.

Ramona’s lead was 40-38 after the 100-yard butterfly, a three-lap race in which Kaylin vanTol placed second at 1:32.58. The Bulldogs obtained a safer lead after taking first, third, and fifth in the 100-yard freestyle led by Paulina Bernd’s time of 1:00.82.

That event was followed by the 500-yard freestyle, which consisted of 15 rather than 20 laps and thus less pushing off of the turns. The Bulldogs swept the top three scoring positions with Gina Lucas taking 5:42.50, Jocelyn Schwegler finishing in 6:22.77, and Josie Ward completing the race in 7:00.28.

A meet normally begins with the 200-yard medley relay, which is a 266-2/3-yard medley relay in a 33- 1/3-yard pool. Ramona’s two relay teams placed first and second. Lucas, Bernas, Ashlee Holabird, and Elise Brown took 2:59.91 while Schwegler, Paulina Bernd, vanTol, and Jessie Gilbert posted a time of 3:10.21.

Lucas also won the 133- 1/3-yard individual medley with a time of 1:32.58. Bernd’s time of 1:27.28 won the 100-yard breaststroke. Schwegler won the 100-yard backstroke in 1:14.15 with Logan Johnson finishing second at 1:17.06.

The Bulldogs took second and third in the 266- 2/3-yard freestyle relay. The 400-yard freestyle relay involved individual starts at both ends of the pool and was won in 4:27.52 by Lucas, Schwegler, Brianna Campbell, and Johnson.

Ramona defeated Classical Academy by a 118-49 score, and the Bulldogs took maximum points against the Caimans in four events. Lucas won the 200-yard freestyle race in 2:05.00 with Ward finishing in 2:28.76 and Gilbert completing the eight laps in 2:29.36. Bernd’s time of 27.72 seconds won the 50-yard freestyle with Holabird placing second at 29.52 seconds and Brown posting the third-place time of 30.59 seconds. Schwegler’s 500-yard freestyle time of 6:12.32 was followed by Ward’s 6:39.98 and the 7:25.07 of Tatiana Lloyd-Dotta.

The meet closed with Ramona taking first and second in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Bernd, Schwegler, Gilbert, and Ward completed the race in 4:20.17 while Lucas, Johnson, Campbell, and Amanda Huber raced for 4:21.67.

The meet-opening 200-yard medley relay was won by Schwegler, Bernas, vanTol, and Holabird in 2:12.94. Huber was the only one of Ramona’s five seniors who wasn’t on the winning 200-yard freestyle relay team; Lucas, Campbell, Brown, and Gilbert posted a time of 1:58.61.

Schwegler’s time of 1:11.75 won the 100-yard backstroke and Johnson was second at 1:14.34. Lucas won the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:11.67 with Bernas posting a second-place time of 1:19.23. vanTol’s winning 100-yard butterfly time of 1:10.32 was a personal best.

The Bulldogs close out the dual meet portion of their season Thursday at home against Del Norte.