Woodside’s Seth Collet and Menlo-Atherton’s Michael Powell will both get a chance at defending their Central Coast Section swimming titles to highlight those boys’ swimmers who qualified for Saturday’s championships at the Independence High School pool in San Jose. Thursday.
Collet, a senior from Woodside who won back-to-back 100 backstroke titles in 2023 and 2024, will look to make it a double in the 200 free. The defending champion cruised into the finals with the third-fastest qualifying time of 1:38.95. King’s Academy’s Nathan Foucu, dropped three-and-half seconds off his qualifying to post the fastest time of 1:35.40, which would have won the event last year — who Collet beat by 34 hundredths of a second in 2024.
Powell qualified 14th in the 200 free.
Powell will get a chance to defend his crown in the 500 free after qualifying second with a time of 4:29.03, dropping nearly three-and-a-half seconds off his qualifying time.
He’ll have a tough task, however, as Collet qualified first with a 4:26.43. A Collet win would be his fourth CCS title in three different events. Mills’ Dylan Yang gives the Peninsula Athletic League a third finalist after he qualified in fifth with a time of 4:31.74.
Yang is also a finalist in the 200 individual medley, where he finished fifth in qualifying of 1:51.81. Like the 500 free, the 200 IM has four county swimmers in the A final — Serra’s Keving Raghunathan dropped nearly three seconds in qualifying fourth in a time of 1:51.20. Westmoor’s Justin Ferrer also made the A final cut, finishing 7th with a 1:52.50, dropped almost two and a half seconds off his qualifying time.
Brian Raghunathan, Kevin’s younger brother, qualified for the B final in 12th place with a 1:54.41. Kevin Raghunathan also qualified for the top 8 in the breaststroke, qualifying third with a time of 55.38. Brian Raghunathan made the B final in the 100 breast with a 57.78.
The Raghunathan’s teammate, Vaughn Taner, made the A final in the 200 free, finishing sixth, and was 11th to make the B final in the 100 free.
Mills’ Alex Vasquez and Sacred Heart Prep’s Charles Baker both qualified for the B final in the same events. Vasquez was 13th in the 50 with a time of 21.22 and Baker finished 15th with a 21.26. Vasquez was 10th in 100 fly qualifying with a 51.14, while Baker was 13th with a 51.70.
SHP, Serra and Mills all qualified two relay teams to Saturday, with all three making both an A final and B final. The Gators qualified second in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:24.33, just off the pace set by Bellarmine, which clocked a 1:24.06. SHP qualified third n the 400 free relay with a time of 3:07.72. Leland led the way with a 3:05.10. SHP then made the B final in the 200 medley relay, qualifying 12th.
Serra will swim in the A final of the 200 medley relay after qualifying in seventh. The Padres qualified 11th in the 200 free relay to make the B final.
Mills qualified for the A final in the 400 free relay in sixth place and will swim the B final after qualifying 10th in the 200 free relay.
On the girls’ side, who went through qualifying Friday afternoon, Woodside’s sprinter Clara Young has a chance to take home a CCS title as a freshman as she was the fastest qualifier in the 50 free, finishing one one-hundredth of a second ahead of Allison Liu of Mountain View. Young edged Liu 23.52 to 23.53.
Joining Young in the A final is Sacred Heart Prep’s Natalia Szczerba, who qualified seventh with a time of 24.09.
Mills’ Angelina Komashko and Menlo-Atherton’s Hailey Preuss each qualified for A finals in both the 200 free and 500 free races. Komashko, who finished seventh in the 200 free last year, qualified sixth this year with a time of 1:50.75. Preuss qualified seventh in a time of 1:51.15.
Preuss and Komashko were both top-eight qualifiers in the 500 free. Preuss, who finished second as sophomore last year, qualified second this year with a time of 4:57.57, behind only Leigh’s Malia Groen, who posted a 4:54.22.
Komashko qualified fourth in a time of 5:00.07.
Burlingame’s Alexa Chang qualified for the A final in the 100 back and the B final in the 100 fly. IN the 100 back, she was the second-fastest qualifier with a 55.91, just off the pace set by Homestead’s Rinka Yoshida, who posted a 55.81. Chang made the B final in the 100 fly in 10th place with a time of 56.73.
Aragon’s Lily Agnagnoson barely missed qualifying for the A final in the 100 back, settling for ninth place and a spot in the B final with a time of 57.51.
Menlo’s Eden Chuang qualified for a pair of B finals. She was 11th in the 200 IM with a time of 2:06.58 and was 11th in the 100 breast with a time of 1:05.31.
Woodside’s Kate Stevenson grabbed the last spot in the A final of the 100 breast, qualifying eighth with a time of 1:04.05.
Other San Mateo County swimmer to move onto Saturday’s finals:
Boys
200 medley relay, B final: 13th, Menlo-Atherton, 1:38.80; 16th, Hillsdale, 1:41.00.
200 free, B final: 13th, Ben Nopper (Carlmont) 1:42.60; 15th, Adrian Kunze Briseno (M-A), 1:42.90
50 free, B final: 10th, Cameron Kazemipour (SHP), 20.97
100 fly, B final: Blake Hagmueller (Serra), 51.92
100 free, B final: 13th, Alexandre Louvel (Crystal), 45.92
100 back, B final: 9th, Finn Crawford (Serra), 52.31
100 breast, B final: 14th, Zerach Chan (Carlmont), 58.02
400 free relay, B final: 12th Carlmont 3:14.95
Girls
200 medley relay, A final: 7th, Woodside 1:47.84
200 medley relay, B final: 9th, Menlo-Atherton 1:48.40
50 free, B final: 11th, Louise Scherrer (Carlmont), 24.38; 14th, Kaylen Alexander (Sequoia), 24.60
500 free, B final: 10th, Maya Earley (M-A), 5:10.74; 11th, Erin Chow (Sequoia), 5:11.00; 15th, Natalie Scafetta (M-A), 5:14.34.
200 free relay, B final: 11th, Sacred Heart Prep, 1:39.97; 13th, Menlo School, 1:40.36; 14th, M-A, 1:40.71.
100 breast, B final: 16th, Charlotte Teague (Woodside), 106.42.
400 free relay, A final: 5th, Woodside, 3:34.53; 8th, M-A, 3:36.27
400 free, B final: 11th, SHP, 3:38.79; 12th, Carlmont, 3:39.63
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