The local scholastic swim scene heats up as teams prepare to enter CIF competition.
La Jolla High School finished first in both the girls and boys teams for City Conference Finals last Friday.
The boys beat Patrick Henry and the girls beat Cathedral Catholic. The boys placed in the 200 medley relay, 50 free, 100 free, 200 free relay and 400 free relay. The winning 200 free relay team of Miko Vespremi, Jake Allen, Hunter Gettlefinger and Tyler Woods had a 1:31:29 time.
The girls team, which was also first in Western League, placed in every single event except the 100 breast and beat three of the current school swim records. Gloria Benefield won the 200 free (1:52:08) and the 100 fly (57.65). Allison Knight beat the school record in the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke and was part of the 200 medley relay team that beat the school record
The girls relay team of Knight, Kelley Wahl, Keller Felt and Benefield placed first in the 200 free relay (1:41:32) and the 400 free relay (3:35:68).
At La Jolla Country Day School, the Torreys sent 15 kids to the City Conference Championship.
On the girls side, sophomore Melissa Berkay had a great meet, finishing second in the 100 fly and fourth in the 500 free.
Also making finals was junior Chelsea Burns (fifth in the 50 and 100 free), junior Norae Shakur (11th in the 50 free, 10th in 100 fly) and junior Melanie Kaplan (12th in 500 free). Those same four girls earned a fourth-place finish in the 200 free relay and fifth-place finish in the 400 free relay.
On the boys side, sophomore Henry Clausner and junior Ryan Frace each had an 11th-place finish. Clausner placed in the 100 breast and Frace in the 100 back.
At The Bishop’s School, the Knights wrapped up regular season action recently for head coach Chad Bishop. The girls team went 4-3, while the boys ended at 1-6.
“Both our girls medley and free relays set new team records, with times of 1:43.45 (200 free) and 1:53.88 (200 medley),” Bishop said.
Melanie Boehrig dropped five seconds from her 200 IM time and qualified in the top eight for City Championships. Chelsea Smith-Carmichael swam a personal best 1:11.77 in the 100 breastroke and finished fourth in the City Conference. Noel and Ellie Elgamal placed third and fourth respectively in the 100 fly.
Finally, Scotty Siegel placed seventh in the 50 free.
“The season has been terrific, and finals was very rewarding as we watched all the kids who had worked hard all year start to drop their times drastically,” Bishop said. “Many swimmers achieved personal bests, and we managed to place fifth in the fastest league in San Diego. I expect we’ll do even better in CIF, where the swims are less about team size and more about personal achievement.”