Swimmers Place at Mira Costa

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Palisades High swim coach Maggie Nance was eager to see how her team performed in the South Bay Invitational finals last Thursday at Mira Costa High in Manhattan Beach, an early-season barometer to gauge where the City champion Dolphins are at.

“We didn’t get the usual amount of training in before the season and our times reflect that,” Nance said. “We’ve had strong results here in the past but this year many Southern Section schools have been in the pool much longer so they’re further along. Our primary goal is always to win City.”   

Claire Kim (backstroke), Kavita Sekhon (breaststroke), Bailee Isackson (butterfly) and Adelaide Saab (freestyle) took fourth in the girls’ 200 medley relay in 1:55.41.

For the boys, Jack Dawson, Connor O’Sullivan, Gavin Conboy and Max Medvedev took ninth in the same event in 1:47.19.

Leelee Marucci (2:01.28) was fifth in the 200 freestyle; Sekhon (2:13.63) was seventh in the 200 individual medley; Marucci (56.20) won the consolation heat in the girls 100 freestyle; Kim (5:47.60) was seventh in the 500 freestyle; Marucci, Saab, Roselin Gallegos and Sekhon (1:44.94) were fourth in the 200 freestyle; Kim (1:03.72) was fifth in the 100 backstroke; Sekhon (1:06.29) was third in the 100 breaststroke; and in the final event Marucci, Kim, Gallegos and Isackon took fifth in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:54.74.

On the boys side, Medvedev got sixth in the 200 individual medley      in 2:01.49; Dawson (4:59.54) won  the consolation heat of the 500 freestyle; Luke Schneeman, O’Sullivan, Riley Amis and Charlie Speiser were eighth in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:36.13; Medvedev (52.98) was third in the 100 backstroke; and in the last event, the 400 freestyle relay, Speiser, Schneeman, Dawson and Medvedev placed seventh in 3:25.90.

In the final team standings Mira Costa won the girls (427 points) and boys (425.5) competitions. As for the Dolphins, the girls finished sixth with 200 points and the boys were ninth with 111 points.