South Placer Swim Roundup: Granite Bay High wins Midseason Classic

We are about midway through the 2022 swim season and multiple area teams have been performing well with individuals who have qualified for the Sac-Joaquin Section swim trials in May. Here is a look into how local swimmers have placed, as of late. Sierra Foothill League The Granite Bay Grizzlies won their home meet, the Midseason Classic Championship, last weekend and have had a great start to the season, including being 2-0 in Sierra Foothill League dual meets. "The biggest strength is our team camaraderie, which I was worried about because of losing consistency these last two years but our captains and team leaders have done a great job of pulling up their underclassmen and really making people feel like they're part of the team," coach John Sherman said. "These seniors, the only real championship level swim meets they've been to were sections their freshman year, so even though we have grown men and women, they have the swimming background of underclassmen. There's a huge learning curve about how to train and swim like a professional." On the girls' side, Rosie Murphy scored 40 points for the Grizzlies, finishing first in the 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard breaststroke, 400-yard freestyle and the 200-yard medley relay. Murphy has already qualified for section swim trials in multiple events and will swim in college for the University of California at Los Angeles. Skyla Lang performed well, totaling 36 points for the Lady Grizzlies, and finished first in the 200-yard individual medley, along with having the best time on the 200-yard freestyle relay team that won with a time of 1:44. Macy Coad finished first in the 100-yard backstroke and was second in the 100-yard butterfly and the 200-yard freestyle. Mary Brooke Chandler has also been racing well and has the fastest times in four different events for the Grizzlies. For the boys, Hayden Ghufran dominated the event, totaling 40 points and finishing first in the 100-yard butterfly, 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard medley relay and anchored the 400-yard freestyle relay team to a win. Ghufran will swim in college for the University of Arizona. Troy Quintana won the 200-yard freestyle race while Ethan Scifres was first in the 100-yard freestyle and anchored the 200-yard freestyle relay team to a win with Chris Nihart, Jack Ortman and Ryan Bousfield. Dereck Phan also made an impact winning the 100-yard breaststroke. Granite Bay High will face Rocklin High and Oak Ridge High in a double-dual meet on Wednesday. Whitney High lost its last two dual meets to Folsom High and Oak Ridge High but still has individuals who have performed well. Freshman Landrey Gold has already qualified for sections in the 200-yard individual medley, the 100-yard butterfly and the 500-yard freestyle races. She has also helped lead the 200-yard medley relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay teams to wins with both qualifying for section trials. "My goals are to make more section times and to have a great time on the team with all my friends while winning more relays," Gold said. Gold is far from the only girl performing well as freshman Jada Duncan has already broken three Whitney High School swim records while qualifying for sections. She raced in March at the Woodcreek High School Swim Invitational, winning in both the 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard individual medley. Other Wildcats who have qualified for sections include Arun Beckhorn, Austin Woolley, Unai Bassa, Camden Winton, Natalie Herl, Lauren Stanton, Leah Winter, Harper Cummings and Averi Bellini. Del Oro's Sean Christianson won four events at the Woodcreek High School Swim Invitational: the 100-yard backstroke, 50-yard butterfly, 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard individual medley. Caleb Culley also performed well for the Golden Eagles at a meet earlier in the season against Folsom High and Granite Bay High, winning the 200-yard individual medley and coming in second in the 500-yard freestyle. Rocklin High also raced at Woodcreek's invitational where Morgan Madril, Eric Ryu, Eddie Hill, Faris Waheed and Christian Braum all finished with more than 25 points for the Thunder. Capital Valley Conference The Timberwolves competed at the Midseason Classic Championship at Granite Bay last weekend, finishing second in varsity behind the Grizzlies. On the girls' side, Allyson Boudreaux won both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle races while Aliyah Treadwell came in second in the 500-yard freestyle at 5:32. For the boys, Ethan Chen won the 200-yard individual medley by five seconds at 2:02 and finished second in the 100-yard butterfly. Bryce Patrocinio was second in the 100-yard breaststroke. Both Chen and Patrocinio were on the boys' 400-yard freestyle relay team that finished second at 3:36. "Our biggest strengths have been in the freestyle events and we have a strong core of people that can rotate between those events," coach Chris D'Arienzo said. "We have a handful of really solid club swimmers that can kind of be a Swiss army knife and throw them where we need them. As a team, we need to improve on our mental approach. We need to get them to understand that we're not looking to have our best races in March but instead, we want them at the end of April and in May." Woodcreek High is also 3-0 in Capital Valley Conference duals so far this season and faces Bella Vista High on Wednesday. Roseville High had a double dual meet against Woodcreek and Inderkum on March 16 and had swimmers qualify for sections in five different races. Sophomore Lillian Wolfinger won and qualified for section trials in both the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard butterfly. She was also a part of the 200-yard medley relay team that qualified with a time of two minutes, despite finishing third in the event. Deklan Heinzen finished first in both the 100-yard butterfly and the 200-yard individual medley while being a part of the 200-yard medley relay team that qualified for sections with a time of 1:46. Tessa Breitbart won the 500-yard freestyle race at 5:31 while Kaleb Wolfinger won the 50-yard freestyle at 23.72 seconds. Foothill Valley League Oakmont defeated Placer 224-105 on March 24 and qualified for sections in five different events. The Vikings qualified both the boys and girls in the 200-yard medley relay, along with the girls in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Samantha Sim qualified in both the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard individual medley. The boys' 400-yard freestyle relay team won with a time of 3:55 but made the qualifying time of 3:45 at a previous meet. The Vikings won 11 other events in the duel against the Hillmen, including Ethan Peters and Maris Leong who won multiple races. The Vikings will face Rio Linda away next Thursday. West Park lost to Ponderosa on March 24 but the Panthers did pick up a win in the girls' 100-yard breaststroke as West Park junior Morgan Forkum came in at a time of 1:09 and has qualified for the section trials. Western Sierra Collegiate Academy In a meet against Folsom and Whitney on March 17, junior Emma Ortiz won in both the 100-yard freestyle and the 200-yard individual medley. Ortiz qualified for the section swim trials in the 200-yard race with a time of 2:22. Junior Alaina Bazo won in the 200-yard freestyle and came second in the 100-yard butterfly in a meet against Casa Roble and Whitney on March 1. Michael Warnes also won in the 100-yard backstroke at the same meet for the Wolves.