Piedmont High School’s Swim Team made a splash at the recent De La Salle invitational, showcasing their talent against some of the area’s most skilled teams. Out of the 25 high school teams the PHS girls’ team secured an impressive eighth place finish, while the boys’ team secured a commendable 6th place overall. PHS had 23 swimmers at prelims and 11 made finals and came back to compete the second day.
The team’s success was fueled by strong relay performances and standout individual swims. Taylor Rolefson and Josie Oesterer led the charge for the girls’ team, while Owen Blanford and Asher Takazawa had the most individual points for the boys.
“There were a lot of new personal bests during Friday’s prelims. The energy from day one really showed how proud the swimmers were of what they accomplished,” said Coach Colby Price.
Here are some of the highlights:
- Taylor Rolefson – NCS Automatic cut in her 200 Free (1:58.13). NCS Consideration time in 100 Fly (59.99) and NCS Consideration in her 100 Free relay start (55.38) in the 400 Free Relay
- Josie Oesterer – NCS Consideration in 100 Back (1:01.22).
- Girls 200 Medley team of Josie on back, Abigail Jacoby on breast, Taylor on fly and Sydney Olson on free made an NCS Consideration cut (1:54.08)
- Owen Blanford – NCS Automatics in 200 Free (1:43.79), and an automatic in his 100 Free Relay start for the 400 Free Relay (47.94).
- Nik Costello – NCS Considerations in 200 Free (1:48.79) and 500 Free (4:58.67)
- Evan Byun – NCS Consideration in 100 Breast (1:02.75)
- Tom Rolefson – NCS Consideration in 50 Free (21.85) and 100 Free (48.26)
- Cole Carnazzo – NCS Consideration in 100 Fly (53.06) and 100 Breast (1:00.54)
- Dima Secor – NCS Consideration in 100 Fly (53.76) and 100 Back (56.16)
- Asher Takazawa – NCS Consideration in 100 Free (48.36) and 100 Back (54.43)
- 200 Medley Relay team of Dima on back, Evan on breast, Cole on Fly and Simon March-Cunningham on free made an NCS Consideration (1:46.11)
- 200 and 400 Free Relay team of Tom, Owen, Nik and Asher made NCS Automatics with (1:28.05) and (3:13.79)
- NEW PHS RECORDS include Owen’s 200 and 500 Free, Cole’s 100 Breast (broke his own record from last week), and the 200 and 400 Free Relay
Looking ahead, the team faces a formidable challenge in their upcoming dual meet against Berkeley High School. This will be their toughest meet of the season, as they contend with last year’s champions. “Berkeley is going to be tough. After a high-level meet it’s always hard to access the same energy. It will be the toughest dual meet of the season.” said Coach Price.
The PHS swim team competes at Berkeley High School on Friday, March 22 at 3:30 p.m.
