Granada Hills sweeps City Section swimming finals once more

The pool dynasty continues at Granada Hills.

The venue was totally different, however the end result was the identical because the Highlanders swept the boys’ and women’ titles Friday within the City Section swim championships at East Los Angeles College.

It was the ladies’ fourth title in a row (two wanting the school-record six straight they gained from 1995-2000) and their tenth total. They completed with 458 factors, comfortably forward of runner-up Cleveland (226) and third-place Palisades (222).

“We’ve won City every year since I was a freshman so I’m pretty happy,” mentioned co-captain Elaina Brier, a senior dedicated to UC Santa Cruz. “I got second in both of my individual events and won my relays (200-meter medley and 200-meter freestyle). We turned into such a dominant team and this is the strongest one.”

GALA’s Jordyn Hale defended her crown within the 50 freestyle in 24.14 seconds (she gained in 24 flat final 12 months), adopted by Brier (24.67). Hale additionally gained the 100 freestyle in 53.06 after inserting second final 12 months to Iris Paek of LACES in 52.93. Brier was the runner-up this time in 54.24.

Elise Kao of Venice repeated as 200 freestyle champion with a time of 1:54.98 and Granada Hills’ Meygen Flores was second in 1:57.90. Kao (59.63) was second to Flores (58.21) within the 100 butterfly and Flores’ teammate Sahasi Mahat was third.

Venice captain Elise Kao repeated as the ladies’ 200-meter freestyle champion on the City Section Finals with a time of 1:54.98 on Friday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Granada Hills’ Isabella San Jose gained each the 200 particular person medley (2:08.64) and 100 breaststroke (1:04.66), Mahat was second within the 100 backstroke and Abigail Sirichalermchai was second to San Jose within the 100 breaststroke. The Highlander women took third, fourth and fifth within the 500 freestyle and closed robust with a successful 3:42.78 effort within the 400 freestyle relay.

Not to be outdone, the boys racked up a whopping 512 factors for his or her third straight title and fourth complete (the primary was in 2001).

Palisades (275) positioned second for the fourth 12 months in a row, two factors forward of Cleveland.

Princeton-bound captain Ryan Zheng capped a stellar profession by successful the 200 and 500 freestyles for the third straight time and anchoring the Highlanders’ successful 200 and 400 freestyle relays for the third 12 months in a row.

Granada Hills’ Ryan Zheng gained the 200-meter freestyle for the third 12 months in a row in 1:41.75 seconds on the City Section Finals on Friday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

“Four golds for the third year in a row — it makes all the hard work worth it,” Zheng mentioned.

Zheng swam the 200 in 1:41.75 seconds, bettering his 1:42.23 in final 12 months’s finals meet at Valley College, to beat teammates Kyle Lee (1:44.77) and Ryan Cha (1:46.71), who had been second and third. Zheng topped final 12 months’s successful time within the 500 by almost two seconds in 4:40.42.

Granada Hills’ depth was most evident within the 100 breaststroke, as Joel Shin (59.27), Ethan Gonzalez (1:00.97), Arya Shahriari (1:01.05) and Jairus Paita (1:03.07) swept the highest 4 spots.

The Highlanders lowered their occasions within the 200 freestyle relay (1:28.14) and 400 freestyle relay (3:12.61) and took first within the 200 medley relay by almost three seconds however obtained disqualified when officers dominated Kenny Brier left early on the freestyle leg.

Reseda’s Volodymyr Balaban gained the 200-meter particular person medley in 1:57.11 on the City Section Finals at East Los Angeles College on Friday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Brier (Elaina’s sophomore brother) gained the 50 freestyle (21.54) and 100 freestyle (48.53) whereas Reseda’s Volodymyr Balaban took the 200 particular person medley in 1:57.11, adopted by Shin (1:58.64).

“Every point matters every single year. … I’ve never seen such unity in a team,” mentioned Granada Hills coach Joshua Cheng, the architect of the dynasty, who swam for Cleveland (graduating in 2015) and is now in his fifth 12 months with the Highlanders. “We finished right where we belonged — at the top!”

As his group chanted, “One more!” Cheng mentioned: “Why stop there?”