Daily Journal Girls’ Swimmer of the Year: Woodside’s Clara Young

Young rekindled some nerves in the 2026 postseason, but used them to stoke a championship flame. The standout sprinter landed atop the podium, May 8, at Independence High School, for a CCS championship repeat in the girls’ 50 free, and added her first career CCS title in the 100 free. She went on to medal in both events at the CIF Swimming & Diving Championships, May 16, at Clovis West High School, bringing home two third-place medals.

“There’s definitely a little bit of nervousness (at the state meet), but honestly it’s not that much different from CCS, for example,” Young said. “I would almost say I was more nervous for CCS because I wanted to defend my 50 free title from freshman year.”

In earning Daily Journal Girls’ Swimmer of the Year honors, Young meant so much more to Woodside, as both a catalyst and a teammate.

In addition to her two first-place medals at the CCS championships, Young teamed with sophomore Charlotte Teague, freshman Ella Moser and senior Reese McCallum to earn a fifth-place medal in the girls’ 200 medley relay. But she wasn’t done yet. In the finale race of the day, the girls’ 400 free, Young, Moser, Teague and freshman Sophia Achterkirchen recorded a time of 3 minutes, 28.35 seconds to claim second place, punching their ticket to the state championships.

The Woodside foursome settled for qualifying for the 400 free relay “B” final at the state championships, swimming to 11th place. But, for the relay team of all underclassmen, there’s certainly room to grow.

“One thing that’s really exciting is that our relay team is pretty young,” Young said. “So, we have two more years together, and we’re hoping to work our way up the podium next season.”

Young and Teague have made fast friends since joining the Woodside swimming team as freshmen. The two year-round swimmers work out at different clubs — Young at Ladera Oaks Swim & Tennis Club, and Teague at Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics. They are among the 10 club swimmers at Woodside who work out at their club sites most weekdays, but report to school to practice together once a week, the day before meets, to work together as a team.

“I think you really get to know your teammates, and I think that’s important,” Young said. “Especially for relays. Relay is a team thing, and it’s a team sport. We get to practice together ... and we’re together for at least two days a week for the club swimmers.”

At the start of the season, Young and Teague set out on a prolific and comprehensive bonding exercise, vowing to each other they’d post CCS qualifying times in every event on the varsity itinerary. While an individual swimmer can only compete in four total events at a given meet — two individuals and two relays — the two Woodside sophomores mapped out a plan to cycle through every race by season’s end.

It didn’t take nearly that long. Young and Teague each iced CCS cuts some weeks before the end of the regular season, with Young finishing off the feat at a dual meet in the girls’ 100 breast.

“I just like to set goals for myself,” Young said. “It helps to have goals. Plus it makes it fun. ... We were just checking the boxes for each one.”

The team-bonding exercise showed up in the win column, as Woodside went on to capture the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division dual meet championship. The upper-division crown is the first PAL championship in either the Bay or Ocean division for the Woodside girls. The Woodside boys previously shared a co-championship with Terra Nova in the lower PAL Ocean Division in 2009.

“She’s unbelievably fast,” Woodside head coach Stephanie Couch said. “So, having her on the team is huge. ... She scores a lot of points.”

Young and company had to earn it, though, going head-to-head with Carlmont on the last day of the regular season. Both teams entered the April 24 dual meet undefeated in Bay Division competition. Fittingly, the outcome was decided in the final event of the day, the 400 free, with Young swimming the anchor leg.

“Woodside really wanted to go undefeated ... but it was really tight,” Young said. “We had a couple girls out with illness, but we ended up winning.”

The score was so tight, Woodside didn’t celebrate until after the 96-90 final score was announced via public address.

“I think, for us, we just set that goal for going undefeated, and we knew after each match we were doing it; we had the potential to do it,” Young said. “And then the last meet, it came down to Carlmont, and we were really excited when we won.”

Woodside opened its postseason in the PAL championships without Young, but it was for a good reason. Prior to the season, the sophomore committed to attend an Olympic training National Diversity Select Camp in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

“Coming out of it, I was a little worried about it because, not only were the courses long course, but we were also training at altitude,” Young said. “So, I didn’t know if I was going to be properly rested for CCS.”

With four days between returning home and the CCS trials, Young — just as she has her entire swimming career — managed to put those worries to rest, logging a Woodside program record 22.86 seconds in the 50 free trials, before claiming the CCS championship in 22.87. In the finals of the 100 free, Young set a program record with a first-place time of 49.77. The sophomore earned All-American honors in both events.

“I think maybe the altitude training might have helped,” Young said. “But I think I could have had the same outcome training with my club.”

Now, Young is eyeing another comprehensive check sheet, as she shoots for a CCS four-peat in the girls’ 50 free. She’s halfway there. She’s also game-planning for a career three-peat in the 100 free.

“I’m glad she’s only a sophomore,” Couch said.