Garceau leads Folsom, Vista swim teams

Joel Garceau is busier than usual this time of year.On top of coaching Vista del Lago's swim team, Garceau returns to Folsom High as he's pulling double duty coaching both teams this spring.The Eagles are off to a strong start in the Sierra Valley Conference, as the girls' and boys' teams are 3-0 entering this week with wins over El Dorado, Galt and Cosumnes Oaks. The girls have won each meet handily, winning every event but one, while the boys narrowly defeated Cosumnes Oaks, 92-78, and El Dorado, 87-83.The Vista girls are young with only one senior in Ally McPherson. The team, however, is also very good. Katelyn Burson, Caroline Coffman, Breezy Johnson, Stephanie Klotz, Dana Lohmann, Hannah Safford and Mikayla Winkler return from last year's freshman-sophomore section championship team. McPherson, Britney Oxley, Madison Rode and Katelyn Staab join those girls to make the Eagles a formidable opponent for anyone."The girls have tremendous upside," Garceau said. "We're reloading with only one senior, but we've got a handful of fast freshmen and it's just going to be a powerful, ultra-competitive team."The Vista boys feature three seniors in Ryan Codorniz, Matt Mendoza and Connor Paquin and other top swimmers include Adam Banks, Matthew Klotz, Chandler Pourvahidi and Matt Zerweck."These swimmers will score well at sections," Garceau said.Folsom High's swim teams opened its seasons against their toughest opponents in St. Francis and Jesuit and both Folsom teams lost by identical 143-40 scores."St. Francis and Jesuit are the defending section champions and they sure looked like it," Garceau said. "We got exactly what we were expecting."The Folsom girls have no seniors, four juniors and 14 freshmen and sophomores on their roster. Garceau admits he's not as familiar with the Folsom High team, but said the top swimmers include Kylie Ahnall, Kelsey Gasch, Courtney Johnson, Hannah Maccoux and Angela Yoder.The Folsom boys feature another young team with three seniors in Uri Grant and exchange students Carlos Fernandez and Elias Steyer. Grant, Bret Bonzell, Kyle Peterson and Dallin Pulsipher are the top swimmers, according to Garceau, while the team has several strong freshmen including Alex Blake, Grant Blake, Paul Kozel, Namkha Nguyen, Tyler Sams and Timothy Ruspasinghe.Lightning and thunder cut short Folsom High's meet Friday against Sheldon.The Bulldogs, however, held an insurmountable lead at the time the meet was called and therefore picked up wins, boys coming out on top 70-49 and the girls winning 72-39.Bonzell won the 200 individual medley (2:05.89) and the 100 butterfly (56.64), while Grant finished first in the 50 free (22.82) and 100 free (51.89). Peterson, Steyer, Bonzell and Grant combined to win the 200 medley relay in 1:50.03.Gasch led the girls by taking first in the 100 fly (1:04.07) and 100 free (57.96). Yoder won the 200 free (2:26.55); Johnson claimed the 50 free (29.02) and Maccoux won the 500 free in 6:31.06.Ahnall, Gasch, Maccoux and Gabriella Caietti combined to win the 200 medley in 2:10.85.Folsom and Vista host Ponderosa and River City at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Folsom Aquatic Center.