A strong Santa Cruz High School swim team topped the San Lorenzo Valley High School Cougars in a dual swim meet on April 16 in Felton.
The Cardinal boys defeated the Cougars 91-69 and the girls topped the Cougars 97-60 at the SLV pool.
For the SLV boys, Josh Felts had the lone individual win of the day, as he took the 100 freestyle in 55.36 seconds. The other Cougar win took place in the 400 freestyle relay where Kurt Fulkerson, Dan Guarente, Felts and Ryland Denny took the event, swimming 4:01.03.
“It’s been pretty great this season,” Denny said after getting out of the pool for the day. “All my guys have progressively gotten better times each meet.”
Other strong performances for the boys came from Denny in the 50 free where he swam 25:92, Asher Parker who took second in the 200 IM in 2:38.62, Felts who was second in the 100 backstroke in 1:11.49 and Marshall Williams who took second in the 100 breast stroke in 1:14.71. The 200 freestyle relay team of Evan Karow, Williams, Guarente and Fulkerson also took second in 1:49.55.
Head coach Matt Troxell said the team is 2-2 in Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League duel meets with two meets remaining.
“They’re a good group,” Troxell said. “A lot of them are involved in a lot of things, which doesn’t lend itself to being an amazing swimmer, but for the amount they’re here, they are doing really well.”
Troxell said Denny in butterfly and Felts in backstroke have an opportunity to swim strong races at the SCCAL finals and that the team will likely finish in the middle of the pack.
“They come out, work hard and improve,” he said. “What more can you ask for?”
On the girls side, Hannah Kersten won the 200 freestyle in 2:25.06 and Tasha Tanner took first in the 100 butterfly in 1:14.75 to pace the Cougars. The Cougar’s 200 medley relay team took second, as did Tanner in the 200 IM. Danielle Chabot took second in the 500 freestyle in 6:35.51 and the Cougars took second in the 200 freestyle relay in 2:00.25.
Denny said practices and meets are fun because the team is so close.
“It’s super fun,” he said. “We have fun in practice and in meets. We’re like a little family.”
SLV will still swim against Scotts Valley and Soquel before the SCCAL finals on May 3 at SLV.
