GILROY—The Christopher girls’ shot at a third straight Monterey Bay League title hinged on the last race of the day.
The Cougars held a narrow one-point lead heading into the 4 x 100-yard freestyle relay and the anchor, Maria Higgenbotham, had never swam this relay before. It was a do or die situation—and Christopher lived to see another league title.
The team of Emma Seery, Malaya Santos, Sierra Ceballos and Higgenbotham finished the 4 x 100y relay in a blazing 3:49.94—11 seconds better than Salinas, which took second—to clinch the MBL Gabilan Division crown May 2 at Christopher High School.
The girls shattered their previous time of 3:55.82 and beat the Central Coast Section qualifying time by seven seconds. But that was all just icing on the cake for a team that overcame impossible odds to win the league title.
“It was basically like if we lost, then we lost the whole meet,” sophomore and first leg of the relay Seery said.
“I’m really proud of us; we were driven,” Santos added. “We knew we had to win this and we knew we had to make it count.”
The Cougar girls combined for 286 points to win their third league title—the first in the upper Gabilan Division. They finished just ahead of San Benito, which took second with 275. It’s the second time this season Christopher has beaten the Balers, winning the dual meet earlier in the season. The Baler boys took third with 209 points and Christopher finished fifth with 132. The Gilroy girls team finished in third in the Pacific Division, totaling 254 points.
Seery got her team off to a great start, swimming the first leg of the relay with a split time of 59.64 seconds. Santos took over and didn’t let up, creating a big lead for Ceballos, who was a whole lap ahead of her opponents as she finished the third leg in under a minute. Higgenbotham, the anchor, sealed the deal and finished her portion of the relay with a split time of 53.73 seconds.
The result was all too much for Cougar coach Jeff Ross, whose pride spilled over in the form of tears. Just an hour before that final relay, the girls trailed by 57 points and their chance of repeating as champs seemed more like a dream than reality.
“It’s just amazing bec-ause an hour ago, nothing and then they just pulled it together,” Ross said. “I’m sort of speechless—and I’m a yapper…They wanted it and they did it.”
Top 5 finishes in the Gabilan Division’s girls 100y backstroke, 100y breaststroke and 200y freestyle relay events helped Christopher close the gap and take the lead in the final hour.
Christopher’s team of Seery, Ashely DeAbreu, Maccy Soliman and Ceballos finished second in 4 x 50-yard free relay, just behind San Benito. The team earned a CCS qualifying time of 1:46.77.
San Benito’s Grace Larson took first in the 100y breast, finishing in 1:12.34. Seery wasn’t far behind, however, and notched a crucial third place finish in a time of 1:17.09. Chloe Kurzenknabe and Ceballos took sixth and seventh, respectively, for the Cougars.
Sophomore Kaela Nguyen notched another key third place finish in the 100y back. She finished in 1:05.32. Teammate Alex-andra Souza finished in eighth in a time of 1:15.72.
“That was amazing,” Ross said of his team’s late surge. “We’ve worked hard—every single person on the team has worked hard this year.”
Christopher’s Santos, Higgenbotham and Soliman also qualified for sectionals individually.
Santos finished a second faster than the qualifying mark in the 200y free to take first. The Cougar will also swim the 500y free at CCS after taking first and beating the qualifying time by 6.5 seconds to finish in 5:23.50.
Higgenbotham, a freshman, will swim the 200y individual medley and 100y free at CCS, taking first in both events for the Cougars. She finished the 200y IM in 2:14.58 and the 100y free in a blazing 55.02 seconds.
“I definitely have to be eating correctly and getting enough sleep,” Higg-enbotham said. “I need to be in the right mindset …If I’m not positive, then it’s down hill for me.”
Soliman is also a freshman and punched her ticket to her first CCS meet in the 100y butterfly. She took first and beat her seed time by five seconds, finishing in 1:02.13. She also took third in the 200y IM.
Gilroy freshman Katelyn Brolin, the younger sister of Mustang standout Anna Brolin, finished first in the 500y free in the Pacific Division. She was also part of the second place 4 x 50 yard free relay team and took third in the girls 200y IM.
Though Brolin was tired, she was happy with her trip to the MBL meet.
“I just keep a positive attitude and tell myself what (time) I want to hold,” the Gilroy freshman said. “I’m feeling pretty good, pretty proud.”
Mustang sophomore Rachel Carnell finished first in the Pacific in the 50y free, winning in a time of 26.92 seconds. She placed second in the 100y fly and was also part of the second place 4 x 50 yard free relay team.
Zach Gallardo had one of the best finishes for the Cougar boys at the meet, finishing fourth in the 200y free. He, along with teammates Jordan Jacinto, Max Deliz, and Chris Lee took fourth in the 4 x 50y free relay.
Christopher’s Max Deliz finished fourth in the 100y free for Christopher, just ahead of teammates Gallardo and Jordan Jacinto, who were sixth and seventh respectively.
The sectional qualifiers will compete in the preliminary round of the CCS tournament May 15. The finals are slated for May 16. Both meets are held at the Santa Clara International Swim Center.
Ross plans to retire from coaching next year and said he was unsure about the fate of the team when he leaves. But given Christopher’s stellar performance at the MBL Championships, he said he’s now able to breath a whole lot easier.
“I’m totally blown away,” the Cougar coach said. “I don’t have any worries now. The kids totally came through.”
Find out how your favorite swimmer fared at the Monterey Bay League Swimming and Diving Championships. Christopher competed in the Gabilan Division, Gilroy in the Pacific.
GABILAN DIVISION
200-yard freestyle — Girls: Malaya Santos, 1st place (2:01.22); Ashely De Abreu, 4th place (2:19.19); Boys: Zachary Gallardo, 4th place (2:02.28); Darrien Yafai, 8th place (2:09.25)
200-yard individual medley—Girls: Maria Higgenbotham, 1st place (2:14.58); Maccy Soliman, 3rd place (2:26.24)
50-yard free — Girls: Emma Seery, 3rd place (26.84); Ashley De Abreu, 5th place (26.90); Paige Gallardo, 8th place (28.71); Fiona McFarland, T-16th place (32.09); Brianna Burell-Lewis, T-16th place (32.10); Emma Donovan, 20th place (32.65); Boys: Max Deliz, 5th place (23.83); Jordan Jacinto, 6th place (24.37); Chris Lee, 9th place (24.67); Tomas Andrade, 16th place (26.22); James Diegnan, 26th place (34.03)
1-meter diving — Girls: Kaelee Scott, 3rd place (275.45 points); Boys: Anthony Lopez, 1st place (399.25); Cameron Munter, 3rd place (316.40)
100-yard butterfly — Girls: Maccy Soliman, 1st place (1:02.13); Kaela Nguyen, 2nd place (1:05.16); Sarah Schulte, 10th place (1:22.72); Fiona McFarland, 16th place (1:43.41); Boys: Chris Lee, 5th place (1:02.85); Tomas Andrade, 9th place (1:09.16)
100-yard free — Girls: Maria Higgenbotham, 1st place (55.02); Sierra Ceballos, 6th place (59.61); Chloe Kurzenknabe, 8th place (1:01.89); Paige Gallardo, 10th place (1:04.85); Sarah Schulte, 18th place (1:10.89); Kelsey Schedler-Wells, 21st place (1:13.71); Brianna Burrell-Lewis, 22nd place (1:14.52); Emma Donovan, 23rd place (1:15.30); Boys: Max Deliz, 5th place (53.06); Zachary Gallardo, 8th place (55.61); Jordan Jacinto, 9th place (55.72)
500-yard free — Girls: Malaya Santos, 1st place (5:23.30); Nicole Andreson, 8th place (6:48.96); Alexandra Souza, 13th place (7:00.64); Boys: Darrien Yafai, 5th place (5:53.33)
4 x 50-yard freestyle relay — Girls: Team of Emma Seery, Maccy Soliman, Ashley De Abreu and Malaya Santos, 2nd place (1:46.77); Boys: Team of Jordan Jacinto, Max Deliz, Chris Lee and Zachary Gallardo, 4th place (1:38.80)
100-yard backstroke — Girls: Kaela Nguyen, 3rd place (1:05.32); Alexandra Souza, 8th place (1:15.72); Kelsey Schedler-Wells, 26th place (1:36.07); Boys: James Diegnan, 17th place (1:32.44)
100-yard breaststroke — Girls: Emma Seery, 3rd place (1:17.09); Chloe Kurzenknabe, 5th place (1:20.99); Sierra Ceballos, 6th place (1:21.05)
4 x 100-yard freestyle relay — Girls: Team of Emma Seery, Malaya Santos, Maria Higgenbotham and Sierra Ceballos, 1st place (3.49.94)
PACIFIC DIVISION
200-yard freestyle — Girls: Lacey Koppelmaa, 3rd place (2:40.69); Alessandra Esposito, 5th place (2:50.26); Cassandra Maciel, 9th place (2:54.32); Miriam Garcia, 15th place (3:08.48)
200-yard individual medley — Girls: Katelyn Brolin, 3rd place (2:33.03); Marissa Olimpo, 5th place (2:59.05); Allison Grifall, 7th place (3:13.08)
50-yard free — Girls: Rachel Carnell, 1st place (26.92); Isabel Prieto, 11th place (34.41); Miriam Garcia, 15th place (37.07); Samantha Fuentes, 24th place (44.72); Patricia Franco, 26th place (46.34); Boys: Nick Marquez, 17th place (34.84)
100-yard butterfly — Girls: Rachel Carnell, 2nd place (1:05.31); Marissa Olimpo, 5th place (1:22.62); Britany Bishop, 6th place (1:37.32)
100-yard free — Girls: Savanna Brandon, 5th place (1:10.82); Isabel Prieto, 10th place (1:15.99); Marianna Bucio, 15th place (1:21.21); Samantha Fuentes, 25th place (1:38.40); Patricia Franco, 27th place (1:45.45)
500-yard free — Girls: Katelyn Brolin, 1st place (5:52.62); Vanessa Marquez, 5th place (7:13.64); Cassandra Maciel, 10th place (8:14.27)
4 x 50-yard freestyle relay — Girls: Team of Savanna Brandon, Rachel Carnell, Isabel Prieto and Katelyn Brolin, 2nd place (1:58.77)
100-yard backstroke — Girls: Lacey Koppelmaa, 4th place (1:31.56); Allison Grifall, 5th place (1:31.65); Savanna Brandon, 9th place (1:35.16)
100-yard breaststroke — Girls: Vanessa Marquez, 4th place (1:36.78); Marianna Bucio, 5th place (1:41.52); Alessandra Esposito, 6th place (1:41.77); Britany Bishop, 10th place (1:48.75)
4 x 100-yard freestyle relay — Girls: Team of Marissa Olimpo, Miriam Garcia, Allison Grifall and Savanna Brandon, 4th place (5:06.14)
