Senior Dominique Lazarovici, an All-American last season, and freshman Emma Drysdale paced an impressive performance by the Matadors, who captured first place in all but three events. Los Altos, Mountain View and Branham provided the competition in the four-team meet.

Lazarovici won three individual races and was a part of two victorious relay squads. Drysdale, in her first high school competition, finished first twice and was on three winning relay units.

Lazarovici, who posted an All-American time in the 100-yard backstroke while finishing fourth at the Central Coast Section meet last spring, outdistanced the field in that event Saturday at Los Altos. Her winning mark of 1:00.83 was nearly eight seconds faster than the second-place finisher. Lazarovici's other victories were in the 50 freestyle (26.59) and the 500 free (5:17.05). Drysdale touched the wall first in two freestyle races, clocking 54.96 in the 100 and 2:04.41 in the 200--both CCS-qualifying times.

Lazarovici combined with senior Nareen Bagdasarian, sophomore Margaux Castejon and Drysdale to win the medley relay (1:59.30). Drysdale and Lazarovici swam the final two legs of the 400 free relay (3:51.31), following freshman Megan Fischer-Colbrie and Castejon. The Matadors' triumphant 200 free relay team (1:49.14) included junior Christine Whitehill, senior Katie Near, Drysdale and Elsa Cheng, another talented freshman. Sophomore divers Courtney Rudolph and Yarosla Ryazanova finished one-two for the Matadors.

Cheng placed second in three events, the 200 individual medley and the 100 and 500 freestyle races. Freshman Megan Leung was second in the 200 free, while Castejon was third in the 100 back.

In the six-team boys portion of the event, Bellarmine captured first place in most of the events, but several Matadors fared well in their first competition of the season.

Senior Onur Erbilgin's second-place effort in the 200 IM was a CCS-qualifying time of 2:07.56. Freshman Stephen Chien placed second in the 100 back, while sophomore Dustin Chien was fourth. Arthur Lam (23.23) was third in the 50 free for the Matadors, just ahead of teammates Tyler Fischer-Colbrie (23.24) and D. Chien (23.40)

Buzawa, Jarvis return

As Cupertino prepares for the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division dual meet season, head coach Mike West is optimistic. In fact, he expects both the boys and girls squads to improve a notch over their 2005 records.

"This year I'm hoping for two first-place finishes for the boys teams (varsity and junior varsity) and two second-place finishes from the girls," said West, who figures Los Gatos, Cupertino and Homestead to be the top contenders in both categories. "Los Gatos is the favorite for the girls championship, and the Cupertino boys should be the favorite."

Cupertino's boys placed second with a 5-1 record in El Camino meets last year, while the girls were third with a 4-2 mark. The Pioneers' first meet of the new season is set for March 17 against visiting Homestead.

"The season holds a lot of possibilities," West pointed out. "The teams will be led by Derrik Jarvis and Jessica Buzawa, both sprint freestyle swimmers."

Buzawa, who won both the 50 and 100 free races at the El Camino championships last season as a junior, is a half second off of the Cupertino school records for those two events, according to the coach. Meanwhile, Jarvis is back for his junior season, looking to improve on top-five finishes at the El Camino championships. Buzawa and Jarvis are two of eight returning Pioneers who competed at the 2005 CCS meet. Others are senior Karin Tanaka and sophomores Joanna Dunham, Catherine Yao and Nadia Basilio for the girls, and sophomores Johnway Yih and Martin Chuang for the boys.

Vikings meet Mats

After the boys' team won the El Camino championship and the girls' squad placed a close second behind Los Gatos last season, Lynbrook's swimming team has moved up to the De Anza Division.

Lynbrook is led by senior Nilasha Ghosh on the girls' side and Brandt Robinson on the boys'. Both were All-Americans last season. Ghosh won a pair of events at the CCS meet last season, while Robinson was a close second to Monta Vista's Underwood in the 50 free and sixth in the 100 back.