(Back row left to right) freshman Athena Lin, sophomore Becca Waterson, senior Amalie Fackenthal, coach Brian Nabeta, freshman Sydney Turner and junior Joe Zales. Front row freshman Layla MoheyEldin

Swim team wins Division III section championships

(Photo used by permission of Turner)
Back row, freshman Athena Lin, sophomore Becca Waterson, senior Amalie Fackenthal, coach Brian Nabeta, freshman Sydney Turner and junior Joe Zales. Front row, freshman Layla MoheyEldin

The SCDS swim team won the Division III section championships and placed first in the 200 freestyle relay in the three-day CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) Sac-Joaquin section championships. Senior Amalie Fackenthal also broke her own section record in the 50 free.

The competition was held at Tokay High School in Lodi, May 10-12.   

The Country Day team was coached by Brian Nabeta for the second year in a row.

Of the 112 schools competing in Divisions I-III, Country Day placed fifth.

The Cavs won the Division III section title with 156 points, beating schools such as Ripon High School (second place, 71 points) and Christian Brothers High School (third place, 58 points).

According to athletics director Matt Vargo, this is the first-ever section championships title by the varsity swim team.

In the 200 freestyle relay, the team – consisting of Fackenthal, freshman Sydney Turner, sophomore Rebecca Waterson and freshman Athena Lin – finished first, going into finals with a 1:36.00.

On Saturday, they placed first, again, becoming section champions.

On Friday, the girls’ medley relay team (consisting of the same swimmers) finished preliminaries for the 200 medley relay in second place, going into finals Saturday with a 1:45.62, just behind Davis High School. (In that race, Fackenthal swam backstroke, Turner swam breaststroke, Waterson swam butterfly and Lin swam freestyle.)

In the process of winning section championships, the teams earned two All-American consideration awards, one for the freestyle relay and one for the medley.

The swimmers will compete in Clovis from Friday, May 18, to Saturday, May 19, in the CIF State Championships.

“The team goal, since it is our first state competition as a relay, is to really just take in the experience,” Fackenthal said. “But, if possible, (our goal is) to make the top final.”

Fackenthal competed in the finals for varsity 50 (22.89 seconds) and 100 free (48.19 seconds), placing first in both.

Throughout her four years at the school, Fackenthal has won seven individual titles (four in the 50 free and three in the 100 free). She will be swimming for Stanford University next year.

“I achieved my personal goal of winning both events at sections with decent personal times,” Fackenthal said.

 

Below are individual statistics from the competition. Swimmers that swam on Friday and placed in the top 16 for their category competed in finals on Saturday.

 

Individual statistics:

 

Friday: Freshman Layla MoheyEldin –   Junior Varsity 200 Freestyle (46th) and 500 Freestyle (15th, 5:41.80).

On Saturday she competed in the 500 freestyle and placed 11th. Her time dropped by 12 seconds throughout the weekend.

 

Friday: Lin  – Varsity 50 Freestyle (19th, 24.93) and 100 Freestyle (54.15).

 

Friday: Turner – Varsity 200 IM (Individual Medley) (sixth, 2:09.07) and 100 Butterfly (10th, 58.59).

On Saturday she competed in the same events and placed 6th and 10th.

 

Friday: Waterson – Varsity 100 Butterfly (third, 55.95) and 100 Backstroke (seventh, 58.27).

On Saturday, she competed in the same events and placed fourth and eighth.

 

Friday: junior Joe Zales – Varsity 200 free (ninth, 1:44.94) and 500 free (4:36.96).

On Saturday, he competed in the same events and placed ninth and fourth.

—By Keshav Anand

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