But the Presentation swimmers did just that, as they tallied 195 points to finish second in the team standings at the CCS finals.

Archbishop Mitty's 337.5 points were enough to win the girls' competition, which took place May 17 at the Santa Clara Swim Center.

"We had no one that stood out," said Presentation head coach Marisa Watts Cozort. "There were a lot of people coming up to me after the meet asking, 'How did that happen?' about our second-place finish."

Perhaps that's because the Panthers had no individual winners in any event. But that didn't bother Cozort, whose team used the contributions of eight individuals to reach the podium as a team.

"Other schools like Mitty, Homestead (third overall) and Mountain View (sixth) had individual winners," said Cozort. "We were the little secret people."

Freshman Jennifer Gong rose from the ranks of anonymity with her third-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:06.10 and her sixth-place showing in the 100 breaststroke in 1:07.36. Both times broke school records.

Senior Nicole Taheri completed her final season with two personal-best times in the 200 and 500 freestyle. Taheri cruised to third in the 200 free in 1:53.30 and established a new school record with her time of 5:00.02 in the 500 free, while coming in second.

Taheri also anchored the seventh-place 200 free relay and third-place 400 free relay.

"I'm really excited about how it turned out," said Cozort. "For the seniors, the team finished fourth, first and third in the past CCS competitions, so they completed the whole trophy spectrum."

Taheri's senior classmate, Carlene Takaki, did her share by competing in four events as well. Takaki swam the opening leg for the third-place 200 medley relay and the second leg in the 200 free relay. She also came in 12th in the 100 backstroke in 1:01.51 and joined a couple of Panther finishers in the 100 butterfly.

In the 100 fly, Takaki claimed fifth in 58.12, right behind teammate Jackie Bradford (fourth in 58.06) and nine spots in front of 14th-place finisher Julie Oreglia (1:01.35).

Kacie Taranto, Helen Smith and Krista Scherbart also contributed to Presentation's team total.

Presentation's depth does not stop at the eight individuals who qualified for the finals either. Even though Presentation has only 700 students, the swim team boasted 90 participants during the regular season.

"It has to be one of the biggest teams in the country," said Cozort. "The depth definitely helps. It's intimidating when you see all the Presentation girls decked out in their cute outfits at a meet."

But with a 4-3 record in the West Catholic Athletic League to show for their numbers and merely eight girls competing in the finals, the Panthers entered CCS without drawing a lot of attention to themselves.

"We scratched it out before the finals and knew if we swam to our abilities we would finish in the top five," said Cozort. "High school swimming is not about individual performances—it's about swimming for a team. And they did the best job I've ever seen."


CCS track

Melissa Grelli had already run a 5:02.82 mile to beat 14 girls and finish second in her heat at Saturday's CCS trials at San Jose City College—she already had her invitation to the CCS finals on Friday. But Grelli wasn't done yet.

For her encore, the Presentation distance runner cruised to an 11:08.4 in the 3,200-meter run to win her heat.

"I ran decent for the semis," said Grelli. "It gives me something to improve upon."

Considering Grelli has already run a 4:57 for the 1,600 meters and 10:45 in the 3,200 meters this year, there is plenty of improvement on Saturday's performances.

But don't expect another double, because Grelli's encore might become her main act as she looks drop the 1,600 to focus on the 3,200.

At last year's CCS trials, Grelli qualified in both events and chose not to run in the 1,600. She proceeded to run a 10:36.68 personal-best in the 3,200 to finish second at last year's CCS finals.

"I want to go to CCS and state for the 2-mile," said Grelli. "It is my best event."

Grelli's teammate Mandy Williams finished third in the 800 in 2:17.01, and Krisha De La Fuente flung the discus 114-03 to finish eighth.

Willow Glen's Cristina Diaz snagged the 12th and final qualifying spot in the 3,200 meters in 11:49.1.


Panthers lose

The Presentation girls softball team lost 3-0 to Los Gatos in the first round of the CCS Division II playoffs. The Panthers had just one hit in the loss to the Wildcats. Presentation ended the year 17-8-1 overall.