Morgan Hill
– For area swim clubs, the Far Western Short Course Championship
swim meet was a time to prepare for future competitions and gauge
where they stand compared to some of the best swimmers from the
western United States and Canada.
Morgan Hill – For area swim clubs, the Far Western Short Course Championship swim meet was a time to prepare for future competitions and gauge where they stand compared to some of the best swimmers from the western United States and Canada.
The four-day event, held at the Morgan Hill Aquatics Center, produced 304 new Pacific Reportable Times and 76 new National Reportable Times, showing just how fast the highly regarded meet was.
While no one from Morgan Hill, Gilroy or Hollister took any titles, many produced personal best times and set team records in the process.
The Gilroy Gators only sent one swimmer, Gilroy High senior Santiago Maciel, to the swim meet. Several other swimmers who might have competed opted out, citing scheduling conflicts during the spring break school holiday.
Maciel used the event as training for CCS competition, and nearly made the finals in several events. He had prelim times in the 50m freestyle of 23.6 seconds, 100 freestyle (50.85), 100 backstroke (59.72), 100 butterfly (56.43) and 200 butterfly (2:07.85).
“This showed him where he’s at and what he needs to do,” said Gators coach Tom Clark. “Most guys there are swimming in CCS, too.”
The Morgan Hill Makos sent the most swimmers, with six. Four went to finals and five set new team records.
“This was their home pool, so they were comfortable swimming here,” said Makos organizer John Rick.
On Sunday, Mike Wu placed the highest of all Makos swimmers with a fourth in the 200 freestyle.
Rick’s son, Steven, took ninth place overall in the 400 individual medley after a come-from-behind finish that set a team record.
Morgan Hill finished 68th of more than 100 teams scheduled to compete.
The San Benito Aquatics team sent four swimmers who all “did fairly well,” said coach Christine Schafer.
David Smith, 17, made it to the finals in the 100 backstroke and the 100 fly. In both, he shaved two seconds off his times and took fifth place.
Blaine Curtice, 15, swam in four events, and in the 400 IM he knocked two seconds off his best time.
Both Smith and Curtice will be competing at the Central Coast Section swimming finals and Schafer said the meet was a good way to gauge where they stood.
“It showed them what they need to work on so they can refine their skills,” Schafer said. “It’s a meet of high caliber, they were competing against kids who pushed them to their limits.”
Demi Gatrell, 12, competed in the 50 and 100 breaststroke, setting personal bests in both events.
“She finished 11th of 48 kids, which is was phenomenal. She was on today,” Schafer said.
