Carlmont captures boys’ and girls’ varsity crowns at PAL Bay swimming championships

“It was fun,” Koo said of going into the drink. “It was refreshing.”

The Scots took home both the boys’ and girls’ varsity championships at the annual meet. The Lady Scots enjoyed a commanding victory, scoring 504.5 points to top second-place Burlingame’s 347. The Gentleman Scots went down to the wire to win it with 422 points, topping second-place Aragon’s 368.5.

Former Carlmont head coach Fred Farley retired after the 2021 season with nine total PAL meet championships, six for the boys and three for the girls.

The Carlmont boys made things interesting, totaling just two individual first-place finishes on the day. Sophomore Ziad Sellami earned the Scots’ first win in the boys’ 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1 minute, 47.70 seconds. Not even at the halfway point of the meet, senior Billy Picht earned the other win, dominating the field in the 100 fly in 51.71 seconds.

“It was as pleasant surprise,” Koo said. “Going into the finals … we already knew it was going to be a pretty close competition across three schools. Again, we’ve got quite a legacy to live up to with Fred, so I was nervous for this.”

The Scots finished off the championship taking second place in the finale boys’ 400 free relay, with Sellami, Picht, junior Evan Chiu and sophomore Myles Hu tallying a time of 3:26.37. Aragon topped the field in 3:18.99 to seal a second-place team finish over third-place Menlo-Atherton.

The key moment for the Carlmont boys, however, was when Sellami enjoyed a breakout swim in the 500 free. The sophomore claimed second place in 4:52.99, out-touching Menlo-Atherton’s Diego Besendiz, who took third place at 4:53.05.

While Burlingame sophomore William Walz took first place in the 500 free at 4:47.92, Sellami had to wait until he saw the event standings posted on the scoreboard to see if he’d won. Not only was he stunned by his second-place finish, his time was a pleasant surprise as well, as he knocked over five seconds off his personal record.

“I thought I had a little bit more confidence than normal because before that I won the 200 freestyle, which I was not expecting at all,” Sellami said. “So, I thought I could ride that wave of confidence into the 500 freestyle, and it worked out.”

Dons celebrate second-place stunner

The Aragon boys needed a first-place finish in the finale 400 free relay, and the foursome of Gabriel Anagnoson, Ryan Vattuone, Sherman Lee and Seth Smith delivered.

Smith celebrated vigorously as the final times were posted, slamming a fist into the pool with such force he got momentarily lost in the splash. It was a fitting display of emotion as he took advantage of a substantial lead to hold off M-A’s Landon Picard on the anchor leg. Picard had already enjoyed two individual wins on the day, topping the field in the 50 free with a time of 21.61 seconds and in the 100 free in 47.28.

“I know he’s insane, he’s extremely fast,” Smith said. “So, I knew I was going to have him coming after me … and I just couldn’t let him catch up.”

Smith’s celebration was twofold, as Aragon’s free relay time of 3:18.99 set a program record. It was the second program record of the day for the Dons, as the relay team of Smith, Anagnoson, junior Colin Johnson and sophomore Sean Lai opened the day with a first-place time of 1:40.24 in the boys’ 200 relay.

Aragon took second place in the team standings with 368.5 points, topping third-place M-A’s 358 points.

“We were going in her expecting a really good competition, and that’s what we got,” Smith said. “M-A and Carlmont have both been amazing, and we’re just really psyched that we have such a good team.”

Aragon also scored big in the 100 breaststroke, finishing one-two with Johnson taking first place in 1:00.70 and Lai claiming second in 1:01.71. It was a classic duel seeing the two teammates swim neck-and-neck down the stretch. And the way Lai celebrated his second-place finish, you’d have thought he won the race.

“I got the CCS cut,” Lai said. “Now I’m with Colin in the finals, I paced off him and I got a perfect race.”

Woodside freshman Seth Collet earned two PAL titles, taking first in the 100 backstroke in 52.08, and teaming in the 200 free relay with Eric Spanger, James Gilbrand and Elliot Jerng to top the field in 1:33.09.

Burlingame sophomore William Walz took first place in the 200 IM in 1:57.71.

Mateo junior goes 4 for 4

San Mateo girls’ swimming junior Parker Del Balso earned four PAL titles Saturday, finishing her day with an emotional anchor leg on the 400 free relay. The Bearcats — including Hayden Cutler, Claire Kuziemko and Rebecca Buss — claimed first place with a time of 3:38.45, with Del Balso out-touching Carlmont anchor Emma Elliot. The Lady Scots took second in 3:39.14.

“I saw her at the last turn and said I’m going to really, really try to time this under water,” Del Balso said of her explosion off the final turn to chase down Elliot in the closing 25 yards.

Del Balso also opened the varsity meet as the first leg of San Mateo’s first-place performance in the 200 medley relay, as she, Cutler, Kuziemko and Buss dominated in 1:50.66. The junior then took the title in the 500 free in 4:58.13, and in the 100 back in 56.22.

San Mateo claimed two other individual titles, with Kuziemko topping the field in the 200 IM in 2:10.82; and Cutler taking first place in the 100 fly in 58.33. San Mateo took fourth place as a team, with third-place M-A topping them by 1.5 points with a final of 287.

For Carlmont, the team title marked the fourth in the history of the girls’ program.

“We had a huge team and they’re all incredibly talented,” Koo said. “I can’t take credit for all of that, at all. They all did really well.”

Carlmont sophomore Kelsey Leung earned two titles, topping the field in the 200 free in 1:53.82; and also winning the 200 free relay with Katelin Kwan, Kayla Hogan and Lauren Elliott in 1:42.42.

Woodside sophomore Audrey Chung claimed two titles, winning the 50 free in 24.72 and the 100 free in 53.39.

Aragon junior Delainey Brandt earned the title in the 100 breast in 1:06.18.