Willow Glen Resident

Sports

Two more Panthers qualify for CCS swim meet

By Dick Sparrer

The young swimmers at Presentation High School are doing so well this spring, the school may need a bigger van. How else will the Panthers transport all of their swimmers to the Central Coast Section coming up May 12 at Stanford?

Two more swimmers joined the list of CCS qualifiers at Presentation last week, running the number of qualifiers to 10 that head coach Marisa Watts Cozort needs to get from the Willow Glen school to Palo Alto in a couple of weeks.

Presentation may have lost 99.5-85.5 to St. Francis last week, but two more swimmers stopped the watch in impressive enough fashion to earn trips to the section meet.

Annemieke Kerstens and Melissa Miller notched CCS qualifying times in the 100-yard breaststroke to join teammates Jennifer Gong, Danielle Gong, Carolyn Watts, Julia Still, Kelley Oreglia, Mandy Korpusik, Jenni Peters and Kelley Gause on the section list.

"We have new CCS qualifiers," said Cozort, "and there is still one more meet for the girls to qualify for the big show."

The Panthers gave powerhouse St. Francis a real run for its money last week before losing by 14 points.

D. Gong was a double winner in the 100 breast in 1:08.15 and the 500 freestyle in a pool record time of 5:03.67. Watts added wins in the 100 butterfly in 1:00.84 and the 100 backstroke in 1:02.89. The two also teamed with Peters and J. Gong for a win the 200 medley relay in 1:54.56 and D. Gong joined with J. Gong, Oreglia and Still for a victory in the 400 free relay in 3:43.5.

J. Gong was a winner in the 200 individual medley in 2:12.60 and Still won the 200 free in 2:00.96.

"Our 200 medley and 400 free relays overpowered the Lancers to score major points for the team," said the Presentation coach. "But despite our strongest team effort of the season, we lost by 14 points."

Thirteen of those 14 points came in the diving event where the Lancers rank among the best in the CCS. Presentation's Emily Rankin "did great and finished with one of her top scores," but it wasn't enough to crack the powerhouse St. Francis line-up.

The highlight of the day for Presentation was a 130-80 victory over the Lancers in the junior varsity meet with three Panthers setting new school records--Kerstens, 100 IM; Danielle Medeiros, 500 free; and Korpusik, 100 breast.

"The JV team finished the dual meet season with a huge win over St. Francis," said Cozort. "The Panthers won all but two events. They went above and beyond expectations."

Swimming camps

Presentation High School will host week-long summer swimming camps beginning June 19 for girls entering 3rd through 12th grades. Presentation coach Marisa Watts Cozort will be the camp director. There will also be swimming lessons available for boys and girls of all ages. For more information, contact Cozort at aquatics@pres-net.com or visit www.pres-net.com.