Advertisement

Trips to Fallbrook to decide fate of Ramona’s swim teams

Share

Upcoming trips to Fallbrook will determine whether Ramona, Fallbrook or Classical Academy end the season as the league champions for boys swimming and girls swimming.

The final Valley League positions will be based on a combination of positions in the dual meet standings and positions at the league meet. Ramona’s boys and girls close out dual meet competition Friday at Fallbrook High School, the only undefeated teams in the Valley League, and Ramona victories would give the Bulldogs a share of first place in the dual meet standings along with Fallbrook and with Classical Academy should the Caimans win their contests on Friday.

Fallbrook will also host the league meet that includes preliminary heats on May 7 and the finals on May 9.

Prior to the April 17 dual meets, Ramona, Classical Academy and Fallbrook were all undefeated in league competition. Fallbrook remained undefeated with April 17 home victories against Oceanside, but that day’s visit of Classical Academy to the Ramona pool meant that only one of those two teams would end the day undefeated. The Classical Academy boys defeated their Ramona counterparts by a 95-75 score while the girls score was 112-58 in the Caimans’ favor.

Classical Academy took first place in all 11 of the girls events. Ramona’s boys earned first-place points in one individual event and two relay races against the Caimans.

“It’s good to be pushed like that in the middle of the season,” said coach Jolyn Yanez. “You’re trying to work the kids to the next level.”

Cory Davison won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:49.69, an automatic qualifying time for the CIF meet. Davison’s time of 58.16 seconds placed second in the 100-yard butterfly but is a CIF meet consideration time. Spencer Schwegler finished third in the 100-yard backstroke but with a consideration time of 1:02.17.

“We got some new consideration cuts and some new automatic cuts out of it, so it was definitely worthwhile,” Yanez said.

Marco Franchello, Jacob Powers, Trevor White and Ethan Blackburn won the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:36.82. Powers, Blackburn, Schwegler and Davison had a winning time of 3:26.83 in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

Ramona’s April 22 trip to Adams Park Pool for a dual meet with Valley Center High School kept the Bulldogs within striking distance of Fallbrook. The Bulldog boys prevailed by a 112-48 margin and Ramona’s girls were on the winning end of the 110-59 final score.

The Bulldogs were not without obstacles at Adams Park Pool.

“It was a cold overcast day,” Yanez said.

While most high school pools in San Diego County have a 25-yard length, Adams Park Pool is a 25-meter pool.

“We’re getting them out of their comfort zone,” Yanez said of the longer distances and correspondingly longer times. “They don’t have anything to compare it to.”

The Jaguars won the girls 200-meter medley relay to begin the meet, but Ramona’s girls swept the top three positions in three of the first four individual races. Maddie Schwegler won the 200 freestyle in 2:35.01 with Hailey Lorenz finishing second at 2:45.09 and Leanna Apodaca placing third with a 2:50.90 performance.

A time of 3:02.22 in the 200 individual medley gave Serena Lopez her first varsity win with Trinity Stewart finishing in 3:10.92 and Daniella Talento completing the race in 3:18.28. Lopez added a win in the 100 butterfly by finishing that race in 1:25.64 while Stewart posted a time of 1:33.07 and Yuliana Olea-Lopez was third at 1:33.19.

The meets at Valley Center’s metric pool replace the 500-yard freestyle race with the 400 freestyle; the race lasts 16 laps rather than 20. Lorenz won in 5:38.81 with Carney Flinn taking second at 5:43.17.

Katie Szakara, Flinn, Stewart and Schwegler won the 200 freestyle relay in 2:12.05. Szakara had a winning time of 1:26.67 in the 100 backstroke with Olea-Lopez finishing second at 1:32.27.

Ramona’s girls concluded the meet by finishing first and second in the 400 freestyle relay. Szakara, Flinn, Apodaca and Schwegler finished in 5:13.07. Megan McLoughlin, Lorenz, Olea-Lopez, and Talento took 5:20.63.

Ramona’s boys began their meet against Valley Center by winning the 200 medley relay. The backstroke of Spencer Schwegler, the breaststroke by Davison, the butterfly swum by Bryan Larson, and the freestyle leg from Franchello took 2:04.49.

Ramona took the top three positions in the 100 butterfly and the top two positions in five of the other seven individual events. Davison’s time of 1:06.74 won the butterfly race with Powers completing his laps in 1:12.52 and Connor Close posting a time of 1:14.50. Schwegler won the 200 freestyle in 2:18.90 with Eric Sink placing second at 2:29.07.

Powers had a winning time of 2:38.89 in the 200 individual medley with Close achieving a 2:45.19 performance. Blackburn needed 26.78 seconds to win the 50-meter freestyle, and Franchello completed his two laps in 27.60 seconds. White finished the 400 freestyle 4:53.62 after the race began with Larson taking 5:10.51. Davison had a 100 backstroke time of 1:15.02 while Larson raced for 1:26.99.

Ramona’s boys won all three relay races. Franchello, Powers, White and Blackburn completed the 200-meter freestyle relay in 1:49.58. The Bulldog boys swept the 400 freestyle relay with Powers, Blackburn, Schwegler and Davison finishing in 4:07.27 and White, Sink, Jacob Pradels and Close taking second at 4:34.67.

This year’s Ironman Relays meet was held April 25 at Del Norte High School. Ramona placed 14th overall among the 18 teams.

“Ironman was a good meet,” Yanez said. “We had some good high finishes.”

Because the Ironman Relays includes co-ed divisions as well as boys and girls divisions, the overall position is for the boys and girls combined. Blackburn and Davison posted Ramona’s best finish with a second-place time of 46.84 seconds in the Two-Man division’s 100-yard freestyle relay. Olea-Lopez and Lopez had the highest girls finish, placing fourth in the Two-Maiden division’s 100-yard butterfly race with a time of 1:04.20.

Advertisement

At a time when local news is more important than ever, support from our readers is essential. If you are able to, please support the Ramona Sentinel today.