A scoring snafu nearly cost the Hillsdale boys a team title at the Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division swimming championships Saturday at Oceana. Fortunately for the Knights, head coach Lesley Chiang was on her game.
The Hillsdale boys won by the narrowest of margins, topping second-place Half Moon Bay 210-209. The Knights wound down the day with a third-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Competing in the three-team field — due to the fourth team, Oceana, tallying a no show — Hillsdale simply needed to not get disqualified in the finale event to win the meet.
A DQ is precisely what nearly cost Hillsdale the title, though, as sophomore Ryan Musich was mistakenly disqualified in the boys’ 200-yard individual medley.
“He came running up to me and said: ‘What did I do?’” Chiang said.
The answer was Musich didn’t do anything wrong. The swimmer in the lane next to him was DQed but the penalty was accidentally levied against Musich.
“He’s one of my best swimmers so I didn’t even think to look if he was disqualified or not,” Chiang said.
Chiang quickly rectified the situation and Hillsdale was awarded its first-place points.
“It made a huge difference,” Chiang said.
Musich earned two individual titles on the day. His first-place time in the 200 IM was 2 minutes, 1.56 seconds. The sophomore also opened the day teaming with the 200 medley relay with junior Mateo Truong, freshman Aditya Tendulkar and sophomore Josiah Yeager for a winning time of 1:44.15.
Yeager also claimed a second title, taking first place in the 100 free with a time of 52.57.
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The Knights celebrated vigorously when their name was announced at the team champs.
“There were some very loud cheers,” Chiang said. “They were all just very excited.”
Second-place HMB was led by two individual titles by Dedon Price. The junior took first place in the 200 free in 1:47.63; and in the 500 free in 4:57.24. The Cougars also took first place in the 400 free relay, with junior Devon Chaney, sophomore Brennan Higaki, senior Jacob Wyman and sophomore Liam Wilson timing at 3:49.54.
El Camino senior Jeremy Tan and sophomore Ashton Phan earned three individual titles apiece. Phan topped the field in the 50 free in 22.89; in the 100 breast in 1:05.32; and teamed in the 200 free relay with Tan, senior Brandon Concepcion and sophomore Jose Garcia in 1:33.47. Tan also earned titles in the 100 fly in 51.30; and the 100 back in 51.25.
Hillsdale girls hold off host Oceana
The Hillsdale girls paired to make it a clean sweep for the varsity Knights at the PAL swimming championships, taking first place with 188 points. Host Oceana took second place with 175 and HMB third with 170.
Hillsdale earned just two individual titles Saturday at Oceana. Sophomore Samantha Lin took first place in the girls’ 100 free with a time of 57.13. Freshman Shreya Kashyap took first in the 100 breast in 1:11.50.
Oceana opened the day with a win in the 200 medley relay, as senior Kaylee Cheng, freshman Leslie Sanabria, freshman Kelsni Cheng and Emmylou Seftel clocked at 2:02.42. The 400 free relay of Cheng, Cheng, Seftel and Leila Dela Pena took first in 4:12.17. Sanabria earned the title int the 100 fly in 1:04.33.
Half Moon Bay junior Sydney McGuirk took two titles, winning the 50 free in 26.27 and teaming with Mirabelle Fischer, Louisa Kearns and Angel Tinetti in the 200 free relay for a winning time of 1:50.64.
El Camino’s Gabrielle Lai and Calista Lynch each won two titles. Lai topped the field in the 200 free in 2:01.87; and in the 500 free in 5:27.65. Lynch won the 200 IM in 2:08.07; and the 100 back in 59.52.
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