Dons swim circles around Scots

Although high school swimming is technically a "team" sport, the focus is much more on the individual. With the Peninsula Athletic League championships May 4, 5 and 7 at Sequoia, both teams Thursday are focusing on getting their swimmers ready for the season-ending meet.

"We're totally focused on PALs," said Carlmont coach Jim Kelly. "(Our goals Thursday were ) to work on technique, not so much on time. I wasn't paying attention to the overall meet, but splits (times)."

Aragon coach Bob Greene is also looking forward to the PALs, but the Dons' concentration was more on times than anything else. With two meets left - including a showdown with rival Menlo School Tuesday - the Dons are aiming at the PALs and beyond to the Central Coast Section meet.

"This meet (Thursday) is all about getting ready for PALs," Greene said, adding that he's still trying to make sure he has all the right people swimming in the right events to maximize the team's point totals.

"You need meets like this," Greene said. "You don't know if you have everyone in the right spot.

"Every single kid should swim every event at least once. There are a lot of kids in here swimming (events) for the first time."

The Aragon boys won all but three events. Carlmont's Matt Lippi won the 50 free in a time of 59.07, Jake Richardson took the 100 free in 53.71 while Casey Ryan made up a body-length deficit on the final leg to help the Scots' 400 free relay team win.

The Dons dominated the rest. Jamie Franks was a two-time individual winner, taking the 200 free in a time of 1:51.03 and the 100 back with a mark of 57.77. Greg Dolan was another two-time winner for the Dons, taking the 200 individual medley (2:16.20) and the 100 fly (59.07). Tim Wong won the 100 breast (1:09.15) and the 500 free (5:28.49) for Aragon as well.

On the girls' side, Carlmont's Kylie Tana won twice - the 200 IM (2:21.08) and out-touching Aragon to take the 100 breast (1:12.38). Janice Leung won two events for the Dons, winning the 100 fly (1:03.21) and the 100 back (1:04.00).

Kelly was pretty much resigned to the fact that his team would not win the meet, but knew Lippi and Tana had good chances to be successful.

"Lippi and Tana, I knew they would be competitive," Kelly said. "It's hard. If you don't have the sheer numbers to win the meet, it's tough to get your team pumped, so you have to emphasize the individual aspect."

Greene agreed with Kelly on the emphasis on the individual. He said that the swimmers are constantly working on meeting their time goals and each swimmer has one set for the end of each month. Any slacking at any time and those goals won't be met.

"It doesn't matter whatever meet, we take it seriously. We never take anything lightly," Greene said. "They're really racing against themselves."

Greene said Thursday's meet is just as important as Tuesday's meet with Menlo.

"Menlo meets take care of themselves," Greene said. "You could have swum five meets in a row, you're going to be ready for Menlo. We moved this meet for a hard, competitive meet a week-and-a-half before the PALs."

Carlmont, meanwhile, is working its way up to where they can be competitive with the Menlos and Aragons of the PAL. Carlmont just got a club team so it can swim year-round, Kelly said.

"The Carlmont program is just going to get better," Kelly said.