Homestead and Monta Vista swimmers will be competing in the De Anza Division finals on May 7 at Los Altos. Meanwhile, Cupertino, Lynbrook and Fremont swimmers will be at Fremont for the El Camino finals. For each division, girls trials are on May 5 and boys trials are the next day.

Many swimmers have already recorded CCS-qualifying times, but the SCVAL trials and finals provide athletes with two more chances to qualify or improve their CCS ranking.

Homestead junior Amber Hovey (56.06) has the fastest girls 100-meter butterfly time in the section, as well as the sixth-fastest mark in the 100 backstroke. Two Homestead boys, junior Karta Khalsa and senior Mat Schmidt, both rank second in an event. Khalsa has turned the 100 fly in 53.42 and Schmidt has gone 1:01.14 in the 100 breaststroke.

Schmidt, Fremont freshman Larry Wen, and junior Kevin Luu of Monta Vista have posted some of the best times in the 200 individual medley.

Schmidt was ranked fifth, before improving his personal best to 2:00.00 in his team's 91-88 dual meet win over Saratoga on April 27. Wen's best time of 2:02.82 is the seventh-fastest time.

Boys medley and 400 free relay teams from Monta Vista and Homestead rank amoung the section's top 10. Those schools also have highly regarded girls relay teams, as does Lynbrook.

Fitting Fremont finale

Seven of the nine members of Fremont's boys swimming team are seniors. Fittingly, the Firebirds closed out their dual meet careers with a victory in their own pool, defeating Los Gatos 94-57 on April 29.

Three of the seniors--Tony Zhu, Andrew Amm and Gordon Cameron--along with super freshman Wen were multiple event winners, as the Firebirds won all but two events.

Perhaps the best race of the day was the 100 breaststroke between Amm and Cameron, Canadian step-brothers who both own CCS-qualifying times in the event but rarely compete head-to-head. In their final dual meet they decided to have a friendly challenge, Cameron swimming in a non-scoring exhibition.

Amm narrowly beat Cameron, winning in 1:05.41. Cameron touched in 1:05.67. Fremont sophomore Patrick Samuels finished third, but was awarded the second-place points.

Cameron won the 50 free in 24.36 and Amm took the 100 free in 55.57. Cameron and Amm also teamed with Wen and Zhu on the victorious 200 medley and 200 free relay teams. Zhu won the 100 back in 59.07 and Wen placed first in the 100 fly in 55.97.

Senior Stephen Shimshock was second in the 500 free and third in the 200 IM. Seniors Scott Peres, Antonio Coehlo and Marc Boyer combined with Samuels to win the 400 free relay.

In the girls' competition Fremont fell 101-52, as the Wildcats placed first in all of the events except the last one. In the 400 relay, Firebirds Angela Cascone, Kristin Sterling, Lauren Carter and Alie Meyer swam unchallenged.

Homestead tops Saratoga

Khalsa and Schmidt both won two events, helping Homestead's boys defeat Saratoga 91-88. Hovey won the 100 fly, 100 back and swam legs on two of the Mustangs' three winning relay teams in Homestead's 119-62 girls win over the Falcons.

Khalsa won the 50 free in 22.24, which is .03 better than the previously top-ranked CCS time, and the 100 fly in 55.15. Schmidt won the 200 IM and the 100 breast.

Alicia Chapman won the 50 and 100 girls freestyle races and swam legs on two winning relays. She joined Hovey, Catherine Kung and Jessica Lee in the medley relay. Jackie Laird, Chapman, Michelle Camburn and Jessica Schwiesow teamed to win the 200 free relay.

Kung, Camburn, Megan Meadows and Hovey combined to take the 400 relay. Camburn won the 200 IM and Lee won the 100 breast.