The Woodside swim team had a strong showing at the Central Coast Section championships Saturday at Independence High School in San Jose, with the Lady Wildcats finishing fifth in the team standings and the Woodside boys finishing 16th out of 46 teams.
Meanwhile, Aragon’s Gabriel Anagnoson qualified for the state meet in four events.
St. Ignatius won the girls’ team championship, while Gunn was the boys’ team champion.
The Woodside girls had a great showing. Audrey Chung and Edana Huang both qualified individually for the state meet. Chung finished third in a tightly contested 50 free sprint. Her time of 23.46 was a tenth of a second behind winner Olivia Detter of Castilleja, who came in with 23.36.
Chung will also be in consideration for the state meet in the 100 free after finishing fourth in a time of 51.64.
Huang qualified for the state meet in the 100 fly, finishing third with a time of 54.71. Huang also finished seventh in the 500 free (5:08.13).
The two then joined Kate Stevenson and Celia VanDeWyer to finish fourth in the 200 medley relay, posting a time of 1:48.79, putting them on the cusp of qualifying for the state meet.
Huang, Chung and Stevenson then combined with Abigail Brown to finish sixth in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:38.66.
Woodside’s Seth Collet was a double winner on the boys’ side, defending his title in the 100 back and taking home first place in the 200 free. He was the top qualifier in the 200 free and he went out and dominated the final. His time of 1:37.65 was not only an All-American time, it was nearly two seconds faster than Nathan Coucu of King’s Academy, who clocked a 1:39.11.
Collet then completed his double with the win in the 100 back, with another commanding race. He clocked a 48.86, which was nearly a second faster than Aragon’s Gabriel Anagnoson, who was second in a time of 49.67.
In addition to the 100 back, Anagnoson also qualified for the state meet in the 200 IM, finishing third with a time of 1:50.02.
He also teamed with Sherman Lee, Seth Smith and Ryan Vattuone to qualify for the state meet in the 200 medley relay, finishing third in a time of 1:33.29. The foursome also qualified in the 400 free relay, finishing third with a time of 3:08.03.
Menlo-Atherton had great finishes in the 500 free, as a freshman and sophomore both qualified for state. Michael Powell, a freshman swimmer for the Bears, captured his first-ever CCS championship, covering the distance in a time of 4:30.09, holding off Gunn’s Andy Cui, who posted a 4:30.40.
On the girls’ side, sophomore Hailey Preuss qualified after a second-place finish in the most grueling event on the day, clocking a 4:56.21, just behind the 4:55.09 posted by Leigh’s Malia Groen.
Preuss went on to add a fifth-place finish in the 100 back, with a time of 1:03.76. She wrapped up her day in the 400 free relay, as she combined with Natalie Scafetta, Heidi Chen and Maya Earley to finish seventh with a 3:34.98.
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Sacred Heart Prep’s Cole Ballard also had a strong, overall performance. He was fifth in the 200 free with a time of 1:40.00. He then joined the Gators’ 200 free relay team, combining with Charles Baker, Justin Pyle and Cameron Kazemipour to finish fifth with a time of 1:25.68. Serra was eighth with a time of 1:27.30.
He then capped his day as part of the 400 free relay team. He — along with Matthew Pistorino, Oliver Marcin and Tyler Hogan — finished fourth with a time of 3:09.06. Serra was seventh in that event, posting a 3:11.43.
Carlmont’s Sydney Niles qualified for the state meet in the 200 individual medley. The senior finished third in 2:02.37, less than a second behind the time of champion Maren Byrne of Los Altos.
Niles also posted state meet consideration times in the 500 free and the 200 medley relay. She finished fourth in the 500 free with a time of 4:59.79. The medley relay team of Niles, Piper Diehn, Kelsey Leung and Angela Pitcht finished sixth in a time of 1:49.14.
Other local swimmers finishing in the top eight included:
• Serra’s Kevin Raghunathan was sixth in the 200 IM with a time of 1:53.78.
• Dylan Yang of Mills was seventh in the 200 IM, posting a time of 1:54.40.
• Hillsdale’s Ryan Musich was eighth in the 200 IM, clocking a 1:55.40.
• Burlingame freshman, Alexa Chang, was fifth in the 100 back, posting a time of 56.90, taking nearly three-tenths of a second off her qualifying time.
• Mills’ Angelina Komashko was seventh in the 200 IM with a 1:52.40 and took sixth in the 50 free with a 52.08.
• El Camino’s Ashton Pham was finished sixth in the 100 back, posting a time of 52.07.
• The SHP team of Natalia Szczerba, Katelyn Chan, Abby Li and Ellison Brush were eighth in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:39.94.
• Carlmont’s Kelsey Leung was eighth in the 100 free sprint, with a 56.32.
• Menlo School’s Connor Grant was eighth in the 200 free, clocking a 1:40.98.
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