Jacob Verket
Executive Sports Editor
Under new head coaches, swim lost at the California Interscholastic Federation meet on May 16 and 17 at Riverside Community College, finishing in the midst of the pack; the boys came in 18th while the girls team finished in 32nd.
Despite this lackluster performance, junior Ed Jeon shone bright, swimming a 59.84 second 100-yard breaststroke, setting a varsity record for the boys team. Jeon ended in 9th place overall. The boys 200- medley relay team compiled of Jeon and sophomores Ian Campbell, Matthew Woicik and Mikey Portis placed 17th with a time of 1:41.51, which was enough to qualify them for finals, where they placed 14th out of 18 teams and shaved .41 seconds off their time.
“I feel like I accomplished something, but at the same time I didn’t reach my goal time,” Jeon said. “Even though I was not able to get where I wanted, I still feel grateful for how far I have come.”
In the girls’ 100-meter backstroke, freshman Kate Barnhill swam a 1:00.07 and finished 14th in preliminaries. Freshman Shannon O’Brien finished close behind Barnhill in 19th with a time of 1:01.26.
“Before the 100 backstroke, I think fast arms, steady head, constant kick,” O’Brien said. “I make sure I am warmed up, stretched and focused on what my coach has taught me.”
While the girls did not meet their goal for the season, there were still positive aspects, such as Jeon’s record-breaking breaststroke race to their CIF performance.
“It was exciting to be able to go to CIF as a freshman,” O’Brien said. “It was a great learning experience and showed how our team can come together when we need each other.”
The Mustangs hope to continue their successes from CIF into next year with a solid core of impressive underclassmen.
“In the end, we did as well as we could,” Jeon said. “That’s all we can hope for.”
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