Swim shows strong against San Gorgonio

Team faces Spartans in first back-to-back meet of the season

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J. Dollins

Isaiah Ramirez sprints his way to first place in the boys 100 freestyle event.

Colton, CA—Taking part in their second meet in as many days, and three meets in the last five, the Colton High Swim Team hosted their first home meet of the season against San Gorgonio yesterday.

San Gorgonio fielded a large team, and despite the small, but mighty Yellowjacket’s best efforts, the Spartans took both boys and girls varsity victories, 95-37 and 99-59.

Standout performers for the Yellowjackets included, for the girls, La’Niece Pacheco, who took first in the 200 individual medley; Kaila Garcia for taking first in the 100 breaststroke; and the girls’ 4×100 freestyle relay team of Jazmin Almanzan, Larissa Lopez, Angela Alvarado, and Kaila Garcia, who finished first.

Kaila Garcia was happy about her performance. “I had a really good swim today,” she said. “I was really stressed out having meets back-to-back, but all that stress went away for today’s meet.”

For the boys, Isaiah Ramirez continued his dominance in the water, placing first in the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke events. Xavier Rocha took first in the 100 breaststroke.

“I’ve been working on me a lot,” Ramirez said. “I’ve been trying to put more time and effort into losing time. I think I’ve come a long ways.”

Head coach Elise Thomas is happy with the progress her team has made so far in this season, marked by a more compacted schedule in which meets, like yesterday’s event in San Jacinto, are being added in order to provide more opportunities for students to post CIF qualifying times.

“I saw a lot of hard work,” she said. “Swimming back-to-back is difficult, but they still brought it. I had good times, and everybody was still giving it their all.”

CHS swimming continues their busy week this Saturday with the Rubidoux Relays Invitational at Rubidoux High School in Riverside.