Prep Swimming: Freshman Hatch leads South County swimmers at CCS Swim finals

Six freshmen recorded a Top 5 finish at the Central Coast Section Swimming Championships Saturday.
Sobrato’s Jarod Hatch was one of them, accounting for two of the nine Top 5 finishes recorded by first-year high school swimmers.
Hatch, who has been among the best distance swimmers in his age group in the country, got a taste of what it was like to compete on the biggest stage in CCS.
“It was really surprising,” Hatch said of his two medal finishes. “Honestly, I didn’t think I’d make it to the finals.”
He took fifth in the 200-yard freestyle and third in the 500y free. In the 500, he finished well behind two juniors from Bellarmine, but he has something to look forward to next year.
“Yesterday (Friday), I was having a hard time getting used to the whole atmosphere. But I was finally able to get used to it and show people what I’m capable of,” Hatch said.
Hatch was one of three local swimmers competing for a CCS championship in six events and one of 15 swimmers competing on the final day.
All three local swimmers recorded a Top 5 placing.
Hatch swam in four events, including on two relay teams that competed in the consolation finals Saturday.
He began in the 200y medley relay with Thomas Rich, Tyler Lamb and Felix Sjolund, finishing in 14^th overall in 1:42.74.
Hatch also swam the anchor leg of the boys 4x100y freestyle relay with Thomas, Sjolung and Connor Bleeg.
They finished .01 seconds ahead of Wilcox where Hatch made up a 2-second deficit and out touched Kevin Le for 13^th.
Anna Brolin from Gilroy took fourth in the 100y butterfly after being seeded second out of prelims.
She finished in 55.10, slightly more than a half second out of third place, which went to Heidi Katter from Castilleja.
Brolin was in second after the first 50 yards, but dropped off the pace in the second half of the race.
Brolin had just stepped off the podium for her seventh place finish in the 50y freestyle, where she finished in 24.05.
The senior said that may have played a role in how she did in the butterfly as she didn’t think she got enough rest between events.
“I was tired. I wish I had a little more time in between the events, but I had to do what I had to do,” Brolin said.
She said during the prelims, she had a little more time between the two events, which allowed her to be more relaxed.
Brolin was the only representative from Gilroy in the final day.
Christopher High School had sent eight swimmers to the prelims, but none made it out of the first day, with the exception of the boys 1-meter diving.
Anthony Lopez took 10^th with a 326.80 followed by Noah Vasquez in 12^th with a score of 294.10.
Live Oak’s Danile Pawlak was the final Top 5 finish among South County swimmers, taking fifth in the 100y butterfly in 51.03.
“You work all season and it all comes down to less than a minute, so it can be really intense,” Pawlak said.
Pawlak also took sixth in the 50y freestyle in 21.61 in one of the closest fishes of the day.
Pawlak was .01 seconds behind fifth place finisher Michael Chen from Monte Vista and .14 seconds behind fourth place finisher Clark Sun from St. Ignatius. The race had a half-second margin between first and second and two-tenths of a second margin between second and third.
He said the 21.61 was his best finish in that race, but noted he probably could have been more focused going into the race, but was still pleased with the time.
Because he qualified for the finals, Pawlak—like Brolin—went up to the awards podium for his 50y free finish right before his 100y butterfly.
“I don’t think I was as focused as I should have been for my 100 fly,” Pawlak said. “I was on the podium and had to go put my stuff back and come back down.”
Rounding out the finals was Sobrato’s Lauren Akin who took 10^th in the 500y freestyle in 5:10.40 in the consolation finals.
In the prelims, Christopher’s best finish came from Natalie Garcia in the 500y free, where she took 25^th in 5:20.96. She was also on the 4×100 freestyle relay that took 25^th in 3:49.74. On that team was Emma Seery, Kaela Nguyen and Malaya Santos.
She also took a 33^rd in the 200y medley relay in 1:58.63 with Santos, Nguyen and Seery.
Garcia rounded things out with a 26^th in the 200y free in 1:59.94.
Seery took 32^nd in the 100y free in 55.53 and was on the 200y free relay that took 30^th in 1:46.83 with Ashley DeAbreu, Nguyen and Santos.
Rounding out Christopher’s finishers was Jacob Holm who took 34^th in the 100y fly in 54.31.
Gilroy sent four other swimmers, highlighted by Kimberly Davis who took 43^rd in the 100y back in 1:03.31. She also swam in the 200y medley relay with Brolin, Rachel Carnel and Ariane Lussier.
Sobrato also sent a large contingent to the finals, with Akin placing highest among the non-qualifiers to the finals, taking 18^th in the 200y free in 1:57.57. Akin also swam in the 400y free relay with Mika Itow, Abigail Pfefferelen and Cameryn Gillis, who took 29^th in 3:54.23.
Itow took 44^th in the 100y free (56.48) and 26^th in the 100y breaststroke (1:09.19).
Pfefferelen took 42^nd in the 200y IM (2:17.51) and 32^nd in the 100y back (1:01.79).
Rounding out the girls individuals was Gillis who took 50^th in the 100y back (1:04.25).
Sobrato’s other two relay teams—the 200y medley relay and the 200y free relay— took 23^rd and 29^th, respectively (1:56.25 and 1:51.10). The medley relay team featured Pfefferelen, Gills, Itow and Akin. The 200y free relay featured Maya Reed, Laeni Gross, Devon MacDonald and Taylor Chan.
On the boys side, Bleeg took 53^rd in the 200y free (1:50.62) and 56^th in the 100y fly (56.53). Rick took 51^st in the 200y IM (2:05.80) and Sjolund rounded things out with a 40^th in the 500y free (4:57.75) and 43^rd in the 100y breaststroke (1:03.24).