By Zach Cavanagh
San Clemente boys swimming coach Thomas Dollar had not seen a league championship in all of his time at San Clemente High School.
The Triton alum entered the school as a freshman in the fall of 2004 with San Clemente’s last boys swimming league title in the spring of 2004. The San Clemente girls last won league in 2003.
That all changed in a big way on Friday, May 4 at El Toro High School.
San Clemente won the boys and girls Sea View League swimming titles on all three levels – varsity, junior varsity and open – to pull off the full aquatics sweep following league titles for both water polo teams in the fall and winter for the first time in school history.
“Our victory is really a credit to a culmination of our city’s aquatic culture,” Dollar said. “All aspects of San Clemente’s aquatic lifestyle are represented in our swimmers, and it’s great to see their skills put to work and rewarded.”
It was only the second time in school history that both the boys and girls won league titles in the same season with the first in 2002.
The boys took the title over Laguna Hills, 566-548, and the girls beat San Juan Hills, 476-437, to complete the feat.
The Triton boys had a huge day with four wins and 13 podium finishes.
Senior Weston Rowan was the star with two individual victories in the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard backstroke. Rowan also took a leg in the 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle medley.
Rowan is seeded third for the 200-yard individual medley in CIF-SS Division 1 and seeded fourth for the 100-yard backstroke. CIF-SS Division 1 prelims are Thursday, May 10 with finals on Saturday, May 12. Both events are at the Riverside Aquatics Complex.
Senior Boston Williams also picked up an individual win with a time of 46.20 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle. Williams also took second in the 50-yard freestyle at 21.21 seconds. He is seeded seventh in the 100 and eighth in the 50 at CIF-SS Division 1.
Senior Taylor Bautista and Juniors Spencer Burress, James Garnette and Dorian Johnson are also headed to CIF with podium finishes at league as well as the 200-yard freestyle relay team of Colin Snyder, Luke Christl, Keith Christl and Reily Herbert.
On the girls side, it was a freshman with the lone individual win.
Stella Copeland took down the 200-yard freestyle field in 1:53.63 for the gold. Copeland also grabbed a second-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle at 5:06.36.
Junior Daisy Frauenzimmer, sophomores Katie Faris and Grace Pelkey and freshman Lang Csira each earned individual podium finishes to advance to CIF-SS prelims. Freshman Alexandria Higginson also advanced to CIF with the 400-yard freestyle relay team. The 200-yard freestyle relay team also advanced.
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