Saratoga News

Sports

Bellarmine's Smith dominates meet at CCS swimming finals

By Dick Sparrer

Four swimmers from Saratoga spent a good deal of time on the medal stand at the Central Coast Section swimming and diving championships at Stanford University last Saturday, but it wasn't all good news for the Saratoga High School boys swimming team.

Three of them performed well enough to lead the Saratoga boys to a fifth-place finish in the team standings--the other led the Bellarmine Bells to the CCS team championship.

Senior Taylor Smith of Saratoga won two events, breaking CCS records in the process, and anchored two winning relay teams to help the Bells coast to an easy win in the section meet.

The Bells ran up 401 points to finish with more than twice as many points as their nearest rivals. Palo Alto and Sacred Heart Prep shared second with 194 points apiece with Valley Christian fourth at 156, Saratoga fifth at 141 and St. Ignatius sixth at 135.

Ryan Hinshaw, Matt Murray and Ben Hinshaw led the Saratoga effort by placing in the A finals at the meet.

In the girls meet, junior Hayes Hyde placed in a pair of individual events and also helped the Falcons to a seventh-place finish in the 200 medley relay to lead Saratoga to a team ninth.

It was Smith, though, who was the star of the day at the finals, winning the 200-yard freestyle and the 500 free and swimming legs on the winning 200 and 400 free relays. It marked the third straight he's won a CCS title in the 200 and his 500 win was his second in a row.

Smith won the 200 free in 1:38.28, breaking the old CCS mark of 1:38.33 set by Brian Atkins of Cupertino in 1999. He was also first in the 500 free in 4:22.37, snapping the old section mark of 4:22.66 set by Eric Dilulio of Palo Alto in 2001.

Smith teamed juniors Patrick Talbott and Danny Wall and sophomore Brandon Shilling to win the 200 free relay in 1:24.30, breaking the CCS record of 1:24.34 set by the Bells in 1999. Smith, Talbott, Shilling and Brian Schmidt won the 400 free relay in 3:05.95.

Saratogans actually dominated the 500 free at the section meet. Not only did Smith win the event, but Ben Hinshaw was third in 4:32.10 and Ryan Hinshaw finished fifth in 4:38.45 for the Falcons. Saratoga sophomore Brad Murray was third in the B final in 4:45.86.

M. Murray, a sophomore, chased Smith to the wall in the 200 free, nailing fourth in 1:43.24. R. Hinshaw, a junior, won the B final in 1:45.18.

B. Hinshaw, a sophomore, cruised to a second in the 200 individual medley in 1:52.53 to lead the Saratoga showing in the meet. B. Murray was eighth in the B final in 2:02.39.

M. Murray was also first in the 100 butterfly B final in 52.57.

M. Murray teamed with R. Hinshaw, B. Hinshaw and senior Marko Pance to finish fifth in the 400 free relay, and the Saratoga quartet of Ben and Ryan Hinshaw, M. Murray and junior Take Kurosawa added a sixth in the 200 medley relay in 1:39.46.

Senior Brandt Robinson was fifth in the 100 free in 47.93 and eighth in the 50 free in 21.78 to lead the Lynbrook boys to a team 10th at the finals. He also teamed with Terry Jiang, Steven Nguyen and Alvin Wong for a sixth in the 400 free relay in 3:16.71 and with Jiang, Nguyen and Matt Cai for a second in the B final 200 medley relay in 1:41.03.

Wong was fifth in the B 200 free in 1:48.09 and eighth in the B 500 free in 4:54.09, Jiang was fourth in the B 100 fly in 53.37 and the foursome of Joshua Chen, Cato Chan, Wong and Cai finished eighth in the B 200 free relay in 1:33.29.

Westmont's Alan Reed was fifth in the B 100 back in 55.62.

In the girls competition, Hyde starred for the Falcons, nailing third in the 200 free in 1:51.51 and fifth in the 100 fly in 57.26.

Hyde teamed with freshmen Lauren Opatrny, Megan Nolet and Elizabeth Murray for a seventh in the 200 medley relay in 1:52.51. Hyde, Murray and Nolet joined freshman Nora Patzman to nail second in the B 400 free relay in 3:40.60.

Murray came back to finish first in the B 500 free in 5:11.35 with Nolet fifth in 5:15.84, and Nolet was fourth in the B 200 free in 1:56.89 with Murray seventh in 1:59.24. Opatrny was second in the B 100 back in 1:00.48 and sixth in the 100 breast in 1:10.39.

The Lynbrook finished 16th as a team behind the solid showing of Stephanie Nguyen. The freshman was sixth in the 200 IM in 2:08.01 and eighth in the 100 back in 59.44. She also teamed with Andrea Tham, Julia Hu and Elaina Jones to finish fourth in the B 200 medley relay in 1:54.19 and with Jones, Hu and Carol Wei to get sixth in the B 400 free relay in 3:44.89.