Ella Eastin Claims Four First Place Finishes in Finals of California High School State Championships

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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It was a momentous weekend in California as the state hosted its first statewide high school championships at the Clovis Olympic Swim Complex in Fresno. Ella Eastin, Bryce Mefford and Kenisha Liu are among several swimmers who laid claim to multiple first-place finishes.

It was the girls of Jserra who took home the state title with 201 points for an impressive ten point lead over the second-place Crean Lutheran’s 191 points. San Ramon Valley finished third with 176 points.

Crean Lutheran and Jserra began the meet with a bang racing for the top spot in the 200 medley relay. Crean Lutheran’s Emily and Ella Eastin quickly grabbed the lead. While Jserra split faster times for the back half of the race, it was not quite enough to out-touch Crean Lutheran who finished with a 1:42.23. Jserra finished with a 1:42.74.

Ayala’s Kenisha Liu and Gunn’s Jennifer Campbell kept a close race in the 200 free with each of their 50 splits no more than .15 away from each other. Despite a faster final 50 from Campbell, Liu claimed the win with a 1:46.14 while Campbell touched in 1:46.43.

Ella Eastin of Crean Lutheran grabbed her first win of the day in the 200 IM with a swift 1:54.31 missing the national high school record by half of a second. Jserra’s Sonia Wang finished second with a 1:58.43, while teammate Karli Thuen was third with a 2:00.16.

Kaitlyn Albertoli of Jserra claimed the win in the 50 free with a 22.67. Palo Alto’s Grace Zhao (22.79) and Crean Lutheran’s Elise Garcia (23.15) finished close behind.

Madelyn Murphy of Carondelet finished first in the 100 fly with a 53.01. Acalanes’ Brittany Usinger was close behind with a 53.56, while Beverly Hills’ Amy Okada was third with a 53.84.

Liu and Albertoli raced to a close finish in the 100 free, finishing only .04 from each other. Liu out-touched Albertoli 49.22 to 29.26 while Izzi Henig of Castilleja claimed third with a 49.55.

Thuen and Sarah Nowaski of West Hills kept a close race in the 500 free finishing only .22 apart. Thuen touched in 4:48.06 while Nowaski finished with a 4:48.28.

Jserra’s Sonia Wang dashed to victory in the 100 back with a 52.99, while Emily Eastin grabbed second with a 53.54.

Ella Eastin dashed to an impressive victory in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:00.33, dropping almost two seconds from her prelims time of 1:02.11. Amy Okada (1:01.67) and Grace Zhao (1:01.96) rounded out the top three.

Eastin closed out her high school swimming career with a bang. The 400 free relay team from Crean Lutheran of Ella Eastin (49.19), Tianna Jorgenson (51.35), Emily Eastin (50.01) and Elise Garcia (49.48) dashed to a first place finish of 3:20.03, breaking the national independent high school record. The relay teams of Jserra (3:22.45) and Carondelet (3:26.94) rounded out the top three.

On the men’s side it was Northgate who swept the competition with 192 points. San Ramon Valley was second with 133 points, while Oak Ridge took third with 123 points.

The Northgate 200 medley relay team of Calvin Kirkpatrick (22.96), Stanley Wu (25.49), Mason Tittle (21.39) and Maxwell Bottene (20.61) claimed first with a time of 1:30.45. San Ramon was second with a 1:32.97, while Campolindo finished third with a 1:33.21.

Bryce Mefford of Oak Ridge claimed his first win of the day in the 200 free with a quick 1:37.08. Liam McCloskey (1:37.48) of LaCosta Canyon and Robert Guerra (1:37.75) of Fallbrook finished close behind.

Xiangfei Xie of Saratoga dashed to a 1:45.81 in the 200 IM to claim the win. Palo Alto’s Alex Liang finished second with a 1:48.21, while Corona del Mar’s Tyler Lin was third with a 1:49.05.

Junior Albert Gwo of Los Altos neared the 50 free national record of 19.43 set by Vladimir Morozov with a 19.90. Porterville’s Kyle Grissom grabbed second with a time of 20.43, while Northgate’s Mason Tittle was a close third with a 20.45.

Xie claimed his second win of the day in the 100 fly with a swift 46.75. Alex Valente of Dos Pueblos finished second with a 47.01 and Mccluskey grabbed third with a 47.78.

Gwo grabbed a second win in the 100 free with a 44.60. De La Salles Domonic Dalpiaz finished second with a 44.88, while Bella Vista’s Liam O’Haimhirgin touched close behind with a 44.90.

Robert Guerra of Fallbrook and Eric VanBrocklin of Northgate raced to a close finish in the 500 free. Guerra finished in 4:26.45 while VanBrocklin was close behind with a 4:26.68.

Mefford’s second win of the day came in the 100 back with a 48.13. Benjamin Ho of St. Francis was second with a 48.75 while Angel Alcala of Cerritos claimed third with a 49.03.

Hank Poppe of San Ramon and Tyler Lin raced to an incredibly close finish in the 100 breaststroke, finishing only .03 seconds apart. Poppe managed to out-touch Lin with a 55.22, while Lin finished with a 55.25. Serra’s Joe Kmak was a close third with a time of 55.27.

Mason Tittle (44.25), Calvin Kirkpatrick (46.37), Eric VanBrocklin (45.21) and Maxwell Bottene (44.75) of Northgate claimed gold in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:00.58. De La Salle (3:03.29) and Palo Alto (3:04.41) finished second and third respectively.

Earlier this morning Colten Young of Crean Lutheran swept the diving competition with an astonishing 27 point lead to finish with a score of 581.45. Palo Alto’s Reed Merrit scored 554.05 points to claim second, while Connor Cain of Buchanan was third with 529.90.

2015 California Boys and Girls High School State Championships – Results

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Dunc1952

8 years ago

“Xie was one of the day’s most dominant swimmers. He moved to the Bay Area from Beijing this winter and has been impressive on high school’s biggest stages.”

Can you look into this fellow’s history in China? Why is he here? Did his father get a job here? Did he come specifically for swimming? Is he expected to be competitive in their Rio selection process? His SCY times aren’t quite there yet (1:45.8 IM; :46.7 Fly) but they are close enough for a 17 year old with another year to train and progress might make him competitiive.

Dunc1952

8 years ago

Reply to Dunc1952

Whoops. Forgot to mention the lead sentence in these post was drawn from a Mercury-News (San Jose?) story on the meet.

Can we get more on Xie? his times are within shouting distance (otherwise known as a 17 year old males progress curve over a year) of being competitive for the Chinese team for Rio. Who does he train with? Is he staying for summer/next school year? Did he come just because his dad got a job here or did he come for swimming? He’s good. The fellow 2nd to him in the Fly (Alex Valente) broke Mike Cavic’s 100 yd Fly NAG for 15-16 and then won the 2014 LC Juniors at :53.10.

Dunc1952

8 years ago

“Xie was one of the day’s most dominant swimmers. He moved to the Bay Area from Beijing this winter and has been impressive on high school’s biggest stages.”

vppolo

8 years ago

Why no mention of the 200 Free Relays?