Palo Alto
– Santiago Maciel and his Gilroy High teammates took on strong
section competition at the CCS Swimming Championships at Stanford’s
Avery Aquatic Center on Saturday. They came away looking strong
themselves.
Palo Alto – Santiago Maciel and his Gilroy High teammates took on strong section competition at the CCS Swimming Championships at Stanford’s Avery Aquatic Center on Saturday. They came away looking strong themselves.
“This is the best we’ve done in about four years,” said head coach Tom Clark, “since I had (double silver medalist) Eric Lesnewski in his senior year.”
Maciel led the charge for the Mustangs, scoring points in both the boys’ 100-yard butterfly with a 54.30 time good enough for 10th and the 200-yard IM with a 12th-place finish after a 2:01.81 swim in the consolation final.
The senior, who plans to attend Cabrillo College, also contributed to Mustang relay teams that finished 12th in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:32.17) and 18th in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:25.27).
The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Scott Castruita, Sam Whittaker, Lee Walton and Maciel beat out rival Live Oak (18th) just a week after finishing second to the Acorns at the TCAL finals.
The points earned by Gilroy swimmers at the Central Coast Section finals meant the Mustangs can claim bragging rights as the area’s strongest swimmers in the boys’ competition. Although Live Oak finished 19th as a team, two places ahead of Gilroy, 20 of the Acorns’ 28 points came from their divers. Gilroy, with no diving program, earned all 22 of its points and 21st place overall solely on the strength of its swimmers.
“I felt pretty good,” said Maciel about his final high school competition. “I felt this year was the best out of all my years.
“It was the first time I hadn’t been sick at CCS … I always seemed to come down with something right around this time (in past seasons).”
Maciel said he plans to swim for Cabrillo, while pursuing a major in fire technology.
The owner of the Gilroy High record in the 100-yard freestyle explained how somebody who spends so much time in the water became interested in becoming either a firefighter or a fire investigator.
“You start to think about it when in the middle of the night your house catches on fire, and as a seven-year-old you’re getting carried out of the house,” he said, describing a fire that threatened his family’s San Juan Bautista home a decade ago.
“We were all just sleeping and the fire alarm went off, and we saw the smoke. Then my dad got us out of the house and my neighbors came along and took us to their house.”
The Maciels were able to rebuild and repair their scorched home. The experience taught Santiago to appreciate his blessings and gave him an idea for a future career.
Despite a strong CCS showing, he has a few regrets. He finished his career without hitting the All American – Consideration time of 52.29 in the 100-yard butterfly. And a late charge by Bellarmine’s Michael Rico in the CCS 100 fly consolation final kept Maciel from winning that race, despite leading it until nearly the end.
Still, he doesn’t really see Saturday as the end of his GHS career.
“I want to come back (to Gilroy High) during the water polo season and help out as an assistant coach,” he said.
Gilroy will loses standout swimmer Lee Walton to graduation this year. The senior swam the third leg of the 200 and 400 free relays and finished 22nd in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.45), while taking a surprising 23rd in the 200 free (1:49.04) at CCS.
“Lee Walton had a great meet,” said Clark. “He was the lowest seed in the 200 freestyle but he dropped four and a half seconds (from his personal best).”
Maciel echoed his coach on Walton: “He had an extremely good year. He was struggling with the breaststroke at the beginning of the season, and he kept trying and trying and persevered.”
Select CCS Results
Boys’ Team Rankings: 1. Bellarmine 532; 2. Monta Vista 161
Also: 21. Gilroy 22
Boys’ 200 Yard Medley Relay: 1. Bellarmine 1:34.78
Also: 32. Gilroy 1:49.25 (Gubrud, Austin; Castruita, Scott; Boe, Ryan; Whittaker, Sam)
Boys’ 200 Yard Freestyle: 1. Smith, Taylor (Bellarmine) 1:41.55
Also: 23. Walton, Lee (Gilroy) 1:49.04
Boys’ 200 Yard IM: 1. Weltz, Scott (Bellarmine) 1:50.61
Also: 12. Maciel, Santiago (Gilroy) 2:01.81
Boys’ 100 Yard Butterfly: 1. Donnelly, Danny (Aptos) 49.87
Also: 10. Maciel, Santiago (Gilroy) 54.30
Boys’ 200 Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. Bellarmine 1:24.77; 2. Monta Vista 1:26.81
Also: 12. Gilroy 1:32.17 (Castruita, Scott; Whittaker, Sam; Walton, Lee; Maciel)
Boys’ 100 Yard Breaststroke: 1. Gartner, Mike (Bellarmine) 57.19; 2. Buonfiglio, Nick (Bellarmine) 59.13
Also: 22. Walton, Lee (Gilroy) 1:03.45
Boys’ 400 Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. Bellarmine 3:07.07; 2. Monta Vista 3:11.32; 3. Sacred Heart Prep 3:14.32
Also: 18. Gilroy 3:25.27 (Castruita, Scott; Whittaker, Sam; Walton, Lee; Maciel, Santiago)
