Daily Journal Boys’ Swimmer of the Year: Aragon’s Gabe Anagnoson

But every now and then you’ll get that elite swimmer who enjoys the time with their high school teammates and makes a concerted effort to be available to people who may not only be teammates, but also friends.

Aragon’s Gabe Anagnoson was one of those swimmers. A backstroker and individual medley swimmer, Anagnoson was known to swim in a morning practice for his Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics (PASA) club and then be in the Aragon pool for more training in the afternoon.

“He’s just a great teammate,” said Justin Sell, Aragon assistant coach who swam for the Dons in high school and collegiately at Occidental College “He’s consistently at practice. … He’ll give technique tips to others and is always looking for ways to get better. He’s been a great presence.”

He’s also a fantastic swimmer. He was one of two male swimmers from San Mateo County to compete in an individual final at the CIF State Championships, while also being part of a pair of Aragon relay teams that have rewritten the Aragon record books and earned him the honor of being named the San Mateo Daily Journal Boys’ Swimmer of the Year.

“The high school season is pretty fun,” said Anagnoson, who recently graduated from Aragon and will enroll and swim for Cornell University in the fall.

“My time goals were pretty lofty and I didn’t hit any of them,” he said. “You set them high so even if you miss them, you still have a really good time.”

Sell said he tried to help Anagnoson stay involved with the team by helping the coaching staff put together the lineup for Peninsula Athletic League meets, where the Dons finished second to Carlmont after winning the Bay Division title in 2023.

At the PAL championships, Anagnoson turned his performance up a notch, setting a new individual league record and then teaming up for two more relay records. He finished second in the 100 backstroke, but before his specialty, Anagnoson warmed up with a new record. Not only did he win the PAL title in the 200 individual medley, he set a new record, blowing the previous mark out of the water. His time of 1:50.68 bettered the time of El Camino’s Nick Tan, who swam a 1:52.95 in 2018.

He then teamed with what can be considered the “golden age” of Aragon swimming as Sell said the quartet of Anagnoson, Seth Smith, Ryan Vattuone and Sherman Lee are the ones that will lead the 2023 and 2024 Aragon swim teams into the Aragon Athletics Hall of Fame one day.

The Dons, however, went with Olin Gawel to team with Anagnoson, Smith and Vattuone in the 200 free relay and his name will go into into the PAL record books as they smashed the previous record. Their time of 1:26.40 was nearly three seconds faster than the previous record set by Burlingame in 2014.

Lee came back to swim with the Anagnoson, Smith and Vattuone to shatter the 200 medley record with a time of 1:34.11, more than four seconds better than Burlingame’s swim in 2013.

“PALs was a pretty fun meet. I had the fastest 50(-yard) back split in the IM of the season,” Anagnoson said. “Getting the PAL record in the IM was really fun.”

The PALs qualified Anagonson into four events at the Central Coast Section championships, where he made all four “A” finals in the 200 medley relay, 200 IM, 100 back and 400 free relay. He finished second in the backstroke — again to Woodside’s Seth Collet — but his time of 49.67 was a new school record.

He came back to finish third in the 200 IM (1:50.29), third in the 200 medley relay with an All-American time of 1:33.29 and wrapped up the day with third place in the 400 free relay — all of which qualified for the State championships.

And once again, Anagnoson advanced to the second day, qualifying for “B” finals in all four events. In CCS and CIF swimming, the top 16 teams from preliminaries advance to the second day of competition. The top 8 times swim in the “A” final, while times 9 through 16 swim in the “B” final.

Aragon’s 200 medley relay team finished 11th and the 400 free relay team was 14th. In his individual events, Anagonson finished 10th in the state in the 200 IM and was 12th in the state in the 100 back.

“It was a little disappointing to not get a first in an event at CCS. In every event, we had a shot at winning,” Anagnoson. “At state … I did better (than last year).”

Sell said it was last year, during Anagnoson’s junior season, when he — and the rest of the core — really turned the corner. That quartet had set a slew of school records last year and Sell thinks they might have been pumped up for their senior seasons after a preseason ceremony.

“We have our school record board on the pool deck and on the first day of the season … I let them update the record board themselves,” Sell said. “I think that got them even more excited for this season. They wanted to do well every dual meet. Sometimes, (high-level) swimmers will just blow off dual meets.

“But [Anagnoson] didn’t and it definitely helped our team.”

Anagnoson credits both his club and high school coaches for helping make him a better swimmer.

“The past couple of years, PASA and Aragon have turned me into a much better swimmer,” Anagnoson said. “Once I got a taste of CCS and state, I wanted it more.”

But the athlete-coach dynamic goes both ways and Sell credits Anagonson’s work ethic for making him the swimmer he is.

“It’s a combination of natural talent and just a dedication and desire to constantly be improving. He’s always open to input. He seeks out ways to get better,” Sell said. “I was a freestyler. When I’m watching him (swim the backstroke), he’s a beautiful swimmer. There were time he would finish a race … and I would be, like, ‘There’s nothing I can tell.’

“He would laugh, but he never took that to mean he should stop showing up or stop asking for advice.”