Girls’ Swimmer of the Year: San Mateo’s Emma Lepisova

“And she’s only a junior,” Parodi said.

The Daily Journal Girls’ Swimmer of the Year, Lepisova’s crowning achievement in the record-breaking department came at the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division Championship Meet, where she not only did she break her own program record in the girls’ 100 yard backstroke, her time of 55.32 seconds also set a new PAL record.

For Lepisova, the excitement of setting a new PAL mark wasn’t just in the achievement itself, but in whose record she broke. The previous PAL best had been set by Burlingame’s Leah Goldman in 2013, who is now a Division I swimmer at Duke University.

While Lepisova has drawn interest from some prestigious collegiate programs herself — Northwestern and UC Santa Barbara are actively recruiting her, while Cal, San Diego State and Fresno State have shown interest, according to the San Mateo athletics website — taking down Goldman’s record only helped to reaffirm in the San Mateo junior’s mind she too has the potential to someday swim among the Division I elite.

“I was really excited because Leah Goldman is really an amazing swimmer,” Lepisova said. “She swims at Duke. She’s an NCAA swimmer … I know she has a very, very good background. … It was very exciting.”

Beyond the records, though, perhaps Lepisova’s most vaunted achievement this season came at the CIF state swimming championship meet.

The junior had already enjoyed a strong showing at the Central Coast Section championships May 12 in Santa Clara, taking fourth place in the 100 back. Then, at the state meet May 19 in Clovis, she re-broke her school mark in the event with a time of 55.03 seconds, good enough to medal with a fifth-place finish — the best state placer in San Mateo High School history.

“I knew I would most likely make finals,” Lepisova said. “I didn’t know if I was going to make A final or B final, but if someone told me at the beginning of the year I was going to make fifth place at state, I would have been like, ‘No way!’”

It was the final record in a laundry list for Lepisova in 2018.

The ambitious and historic season all started with a wide-eyed Lepisova standing at the record board at the San Mateo High School swimming pool prior to the start of the season. She dreamed of etching her name in as many events as possible. Now, for years to come, when other San Mateo swimmers do the same, it will be Lepisova’s records they are gunning for.

Her season started with a shared record in the 200 medley relay, as she teamed with seniors Valeriya Nasedkina and Nicole Chang, and freshman Cecilia Quan in a time of 1 minute, 48.68 seconds. The team would go on to claim the PAL Bay Division championship in the event, then take 12th place at the CCS finals.

Then the parade of Lepisova’s individual records commenced. In the 200 free, she took down an 11-year-old school record with a time of 1:53.32. The 200 IM was next in 2:06.19. Then, before her postseason glory in the 100 back, she unexpectedly shattered Cindy Buchner’s 27-year-old record in the 500 free in 5:11.84, bettering the former mark by over seven seconds.  

“That was kind of exciting,” said Lepisova, who wasn’t supposed to swim the 500 that day at a dual meet against Burlingame. Prior to the meet, though, teammate Elsa Servantes dared her to swim the distance behemoth. “Actually I was happy about it. … I’m not really a distance swimmer myself. … When it comes to club I’m more of a 200 down, so the 500 isn’t actually my forte. But I can swim it if I have to.”

The Bearcats have seen quite a renaissance of record-breaking swimmers in recent years. Also this season, Nasedkina broke a 25-year-old mark held by Liesl Kolbisen — mother of current Serra standout Brooks Taner — in the 50 free with a time of 23.55.

And in 2017, along with teaming in two relay records, now-graduated Larisa Tam set a new record in the 100 breaststroke at 1:03.85.

Tam is certainly in the conversation for one of the best swimmers in San Mateo history. So is Lepisova. But where the latter stands above, with no question, is in her standing among the all-around greats.

“I think she’s exceeded what Larisa did just because of her vast ability in all the disciplines,” Parodi said, “and being able to get school records in more than just your two concentrated events.

“It was pretty spectacular season,” Parodi said. “And I’ve got one more year with her.”