
The La Jolla High School boys swimming team captured the CIF Division II championship recently, with the La Jolla girls finishing in third place. The victory for the Vikings was sweet, considering the boys had not won a CIF crown in nine years. “I am so proud of both the girls team and the boys team,” La Jolla High head coach Tom Atwell remarked. “The girls really over-achieved finishing third. We had lots of standout performances from our girls who surprised everyone with how fast they are. The boys put together a total team effort. With two very fast club swimmers and then an incredible group of water polo players turned seasonal swimmers, they really pushed each other and peaked at just the right time. What an amazing year.” Seven La Jolla school records were broken in the process of this most recent performance. Eric Hedlin had two boys automatic All-American times in the 200 Free (1:40.19) and the 500 Free (4:27.15), while Allie Knight had a girls automatic All-American time in the 100 Fly (55.75). In addition, there were All-American consideration times in the 100 Free (Tyler Woods 46.78 and Heren Alanis 51.91); 200 IM (Alanis 2:06.09); 200 Free relay (Woods, Troy LeLoup, Miko Vespremi and Hunter Gettelfinger 1:27.60); and both girls and boys 400 Free relay (Vespremi, LeLoup, Gettelfinger and Woods 3:11.02, and Alanis, Sami McLaughlin, Grace Benefield and Allie Knight 3:34.73). Diving standouts were Kirk Lee placing second, Quinton Mendoza placing sixth, Kimball Wing finishing 10th and MacKenzie Allen coming in 14th.