The unfolding saga about Eastlake High School’s ‘Golden Girls’ swimmers isn’t quite finished. The next chapter will be written at this weekend’s state championship meet.
Freshman Emily Lundgren and sophomore Cecilia Hagewood both qualified to compete in individual events and will join junior Pia Davila and freshman Aranza Martha in two relay events when swimmers plunge into the Clovis Olympic Swim Complex pool at Clovis West High School in Clovis this weekend.
The quartet comprises the first group of Eastlake swimmers to qualify for the state championships.
Buoyed by the performance of the team’s state-bound swimmers, Eastlake finished third in the Division I girls team standings – the best showing since the team placed third at the 2007 and 2008 CIF finals.
“I think we’re set up well to challenge for championship titles in big meets in future years,” EHS head coach Steve Wiggs said.
It was certainly a record-setting day for the Titans at this year’s Division I finals.
Fast lane
Swimmers qualified for the state meet by competing in last Saturday’s San Diego Section finals at Del Norte High School. Swimmers posting the top three times in each event, regardless of division, qualified to advance to the state championship meet.
The top 40 swimmers from around the state will compete in each event.
Lundgren recorded the second-best time on the day in the girls 200-yard individual medley after winning the Division I girls title in 2:04.07 to edge defending champion Anna Brooker (2:04.49) from Carlsbad.
Lundgren’s time ranked second to Division II champion Tegan Preston (2:03.27) from La Costa Canyon. West Hills’ Danielle Nowaski, the runner-up in the Division II meet, notched the third-best time of 2:04.16 to also qualify for the state meet.
Lundgren, who won four gold medals at this year’s Mesa League finals, entered the event as the top seed. However, she fell behind Brooker in the backstroke leg before pulling even in the ensuing breaststroke leg. The Eastlake super frosh pulled ahead in the final 50 yards while swimming the freestyle leg.
Her CIF finals time set a new school record, breaking the previous school record of 2:05.12 she set at the league finals.
She is seeded 10th in the event at the state meet.
“I had my mind set on making the state meet,” Lundgren said. “I wanted to hit this goal as a freshman.
“I was nervous going into finals but seeing the support from my team, coaches and hearing my family and friends cheering helped my confidence.
“I trusted the training and all the hard work I put in to prepare for these races. I believed I could swim fast, and that made all the difference.”
Lundgren and Hagewood became the first duo from Eastlake to qualify for the state meet in the same event after Lundgren finished second in the Division I 100 breaststroke event and Hagewood finished third.
The event was definitely one to watch as the Titan duo dueled defending event champion Amelia Cho, a senior from Torrey Pines, who is headed to continue her swimming career at UC Davis.
Cho was pushed by the two Eastlake swimmers in successfully defending her title, which she won by a narrow 0.16 of a second.
Cho hit the touch pad first in 1:03.15, followed by Lundgren in 1:03.31 and Hagewood in 1:04.32.
LCC’s Preston won the Division II title in 1:02.88, placing Lundgren third overall among best times on the day in the event.
However, swimmers may also qualify for the state meet if they do not finish with the top three times at the section meet.
According to the state rule book, once allocated automatic qualifying spots from each section are filled, each section may enter additional competitors provided they have met or bettered the at-large automatic or consideration standard for their event in their section meet.
In the event that there are not 40 automatic qualifiers, consideration times will be used to fill each event to 40 qualifiers/relay teams.
Hagewood met the at-large automatic standard to also make the state cut in the breaststroke event.
Lundgren is seeded 15th in the event for this weekend’s state meet while Hagewood is seeded 28th.
Lundgren won gold medals at the league finals in both the 200 IM (2:05.12) and 100 breaststroke (1:03.10) while Hagewood earned an individual gold medal in the 50 freestyle (24.20) while taking second (to Lundgren) in the breaststroke in 1:05.90.
Hagewood placed fifth in the 50 freestyle event at the CIF finals with a lifetime best time of 24.15 to make the state consideration cut in the event.
Hagewood initially specialized in the breaststroke before moving to the shorter freestyle distances. “I love that feeling of going top speed, going so fast is a rush,” she said.
The foursome of Davila, Lundgren, Hagewood and Martha smashed their own school records in the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays to earn a trip to the state meet.
The group smashed its own record by two second in the medley relay by more than two seconds in bringing its time from 1:50.82 to 1:48.11 in taking third at the Division I finals.
The medley relay time was fourth overall at the section finals but made the state consideration cut by two seconds and the group is seeded 28th for this weekend’s meet.
Torrey Pines won this year’s Division I title with a section record time of 1:42.94, followed by runner-up Carlsbad in 1:47.85. La Costa Canyon won the Division II title in a meet record 1:44.78.
The Titan quartet placed third in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:34.23 to finish a full three seconds under the state consideration cut.
Eastlake once again finished behind Torrey Pines (3:29.41) and Carlsbad (3:31.75). La Costa Canyon won the Division II title in 3:29.14, followed by Cathedral Catholic in 3:31.70.
The Titan unit timed 3:39.17 to win the event at the league finals.
The Eastlake group is seeded 29th at the state meet.
Other highlights for the Titan girls team:
•Davila took 10th in the 100 backstroke event with a time of 1:00.95 and finally broke a minute in the 100 butterfly with a lifetime best of 59.84 to finish 16th in the event (after recording a prelim time of 1:00.00).
•Martha took 11th in the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.04 and was 11th in the 100 freestyle in 54.88.
•Erin Gidney recorded a lifetime best of 5:13.38 to narrowly miss the school record in placing seventh in the 500 freestyle event. She also recorded a lifetime best in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:57.99 to finish 13th. The 200 freestyle time was a season best for the team in the event.
•The 200 freestyle relay team of Brenna Pangelinan, Mackenzie Surrey, Maegan Ruane and Gidney recorded a season best of 1:44.95 to take 10th in the event.
Ruane went from second alternate (18th) in the 100 freestyle event (the top 16 swimmers make it into finals) to swimming the event after a qualifier and first alternate didn’t show for the meet. Ruane almost recorded a lifetime best in placing 16th.
Eastlake finished the meet with 182 points to place behind team champion Torrey Pines (517 points) and runner-up Carlsbad (290 points).
San Marcos finished fourth in the team standings with 179 points, followed by Poway in fifth place with 142 points, Del Norte in sixth place with 127 points, Valhalla in seventh place with 121 points and San Pasqual in eighth place with 97 points.
Boys to men
Eastlake finished ninth overall among Division I boys teams.
Highlights included:
•Nate Bjornstad took fifth in the 100 breaststroke event with a time of 58.78 to make the CIF state consideration cut. However, he was not selected. He bettered his winning time of 58.63 at the league finals.
•The 200 freestyle relay team of Bjornstad, Skylar Kinney, Emilio Camarillo and Eli Stewart shattered its record time from 1:31.97 (at league finals) to 1:28.81 in taking fifth at the division finals. The time made the state consideration cut and qualified the quartet as an alternate for this weekend’s elite meet.
•Kinney recorded a lifetime best of 52.98 in the 100 butterfly to snare seventh place in the event; Camarillo finished 13th in the event with a time of 53.63.
•Colby Hughes lowered his school record time in the 500 freestyle event from 4:47.28 (from league finals) to 4:44.41 to take eighth overall in the finals. He posted a lifetime best in the 200 freestyle event with a time of 1:47.69 to miss the school record by less than a second in taking 15th.
•The 200 medley relay unit of Aaron Ruelas, Bjornstad, Kinney and Eli Stewart posted a season best time 1:41.38 to place eighth overall. Eastlake won the event in 1:42.80 at the league finals.
•Camarillo posted a lifetime best of 1:59.03 in the 200 IM to place 10th in the event. He won the event at the league finals in 2:01.77.
•The 400 freestyle relay team of Kinney, Jeremy Redden, Hughes and Camarillo finished 10th in the event with a time of 3:21.44. The Titans won the event at the league finals in 3:25.57.
Torrey Pines won the boys team title with 353 points, followed by Carlsbad (216 points), Canyon Crest Academy (212 points), Poway (197 points), Mission Hills (171 points), San Marcos (150 points), Westview (127 points) and Steele Canyon (114 points).
Division I notepad
Otay Ranch’s Samuel Gomez finished sixth in the boys 100 freestyle finals in 48.30 while Bonita Vista’s Ezra Aguimatang finished eighth in the boys 100 backstroke finals in 55.17.
Gomez won the event in 48.59 at the league finals while Aguimatang clocked 54.45 in winning the event at the league finals.
Division II notepad
Mater Dei Catholic’s Sofia Chavez-Varela finished seventh in the girls 200 freestyle in 1:57.93. She placed ninth in the event (1:57.42) as a freshman.
La Costa Canyon won the girls team title with 347 points to edge Cathedral Catholic (327 points).
Bishop’s won the boys team title with 355 points to slip past Cathedral Catholic (344 points).
State of mind
The state championship meet is a two-day event. Prelims are scheduled Friday and finals are scheduled Saturday.
For a full list of qualifiers and updates, visit the website at www.cifstate.org.
