It was an eventful afternoon at Long Beach Poly on Friday, as the Jackrabbits hosted their annual swimming meet against rivals Wilson, offering a strong preview of some of the top athletes ahead of the Moore League finals. The meet had everything we\u2019ve come to expect between the two, with a loud, packed natatorium and a tight finish as Wilson completed the sweep with wins on both sides.<\/p>\n
Girls\u2019 Varsity<\/p>\n
You couldn\u2019t have scripted a better finish to the battle between the two girls teams, as Wilson reclaimed the dual-meet crown over Poly in the final event of the evening. The Bruins edged out an 86-84 victory\u2014ironically the same score as last year, when Poly also won in a meet that came down to the 400 freestyle relay.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was truly a full team effort by our lady Bruins. The energy on deck at Poly was incredible and our athletes competed with Bruin pride from start to finish,\u201d said Wilson coach Kristin Barth. \u201cOur athletes showed up ready to race with grit and heart across all three levels, and I\u2019m really proud of this group and how they represented Wilson girls\u2019 swim.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to argue with the full team effort from Wilson, as the Bruins managed a team win despite Poly claiming victories in nine of the 11 events. Out of 41 total scoring spots in the meet, Wilson had 25 different athletes or relays place high enough to contribute points.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat stood out most was our team depth,\u201d Barth said. \u201cWe had swimmers constantly, stepping up to finish second, third, and fourth in multiple events. That kind of depth is what builds a strong, competitive program.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bruins had one individual win from Taylor Williams in the 50 freestyle, as she finished in 26.04 to beat teammate Matilda Davison-Lakey by eight-tenths of a second. Wilson also won the 200 freestyle relay, as Reese Haga, Frankie Garcia, Kylie Kennedy and Williams swam a 1:46.65 to beat Poly\u2019s A relay by just over a second.<\/p>\n
Poly impressively had three different athletes win multiple events, as Nikki Bickel, Phoebe Kuo and Jemma Nagle each won two races while also swimming legs on Poly\u2019s two relay wins. Bickel picked up wins in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke, while Kuo won the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke. Nagle added freestyle victories in the 200 and 500.<\/p>\n
The trio contributed to Poly\u2019s 400 freestyle relay win alongside second-leg swimmer Kayla Nguyen, who also picked up an individual win in the 100 free. Bickel, Kuo, Nagle and Sequoia Newman also won the 200 medley relay to open the meet.<\/p>\n
Boys\u2019 Varsity<\/p>\n
It was a much more dominant affair on the boys\u2019 side, as Wilson won seven of the 11 events and swept the top three spots in six different races to complete a 115-55 win over Poly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can kinda do the math beforehand, but the boys still have to show up and do what they have to do in order to get the job done and they did that,\u201d said Wilson coach Brandon D\u2019Sa. \u201cIn fact, they exceeded expectations in lots of ways which was amazing, and what more can you ask for as a coach?\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson of course had strong performances from a handful of its Open Division water polo players, as Keegan Abing, Vaughan Baker and Kai Bramble each picked up individual wins. Abing took home the 500 freestyle, while Baker won the 200 IM and Bramble won the 100 freestyle.<\/p>\n
Aidan Conrey was the only Bruin to win multiple individual events, as he took home the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly back-to-back. Conrey was also the second leg on Wilson\u2019s 200 and 400 free relays, helping the Bruins earn another pair of wins alongside Bramble, Abing and Jesse Knight.<\/p>\n
D\u2019Sa also had praise for a handful of athletes who contributed with big placements, including Scott Daniels, who dropped six seconds in the 500 free to finish second while also earning a PR in the 100 backstroke. Fernando Rejon achieved a sub-50 time in the 100 free to place second, while freshman Fox Weiss had strong third-place finishes in the 100 free and 200 IM.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you talk about building a dominant swim program or even a good swim program you need that depth, and it\u2019s really cool to watch especially for a team that\u2019s a lot younger,\u201d D\u2019Sa said of the contributions. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of underclassmen so to see these guys rise to the top and accept the challenge is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Poly had another standout performance from Lucas Jue, who captured wins in the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke. Elijah Livinggood had a win in the 100 breaststroke while Poly\u2019s Jue, Ezra Parramore-Dawson, Jeremiah Estrada-Ramos and Meteo Gomez started the evening with a win in the 200 medley relay.<\/p>\n
Girls\u2019 Varsity Race Winners:<\/p>\n
200 Medley Relay \u2013 Poly (Kuo, Bickel, Newman, Nagel), 1:52.75<\/p>\n
200 Free \u2013 Jemma Nagle, Poly (2:00.77)<\/p>\n
200 IM \u2013 Nikki Bickel, Poly (2:13.46)<\/p>\n
50 Free \u2013 Taylor Williams, Wilson (26.04)\u00a0<\/p>\n
100 Butterfly \u2013 Phoebe Kuo, Poly (59.10)<\/p>\n
100 Free \u2013 Kayla Nguyen, Poly (55.56)<\/p>\n
500 Free \u2013 Jemma Nagle, Poly (5:31.64)<\/p>\n
200 Free Relay \u2013 Wilson (Haga, Garcia, Kennedy, Williams), 1:46.65,\u00a0<\/p>\n
100 Backstroke \u2013 Phoebe Kuo, Poly (1:00.51)<\/p>\n
100 Breaststroke \u2013 Nikki Bickel, Poly (1:07.57)<\/p>\n
400 Free Relay \u2013 Poly (Kuo, Nguyen, Nagle, Bickel), 3:41.18<\/p>\n
Boys\u2019 Varsity Race Winners:<\/p>\n
200 Medley Relay \u2013 Poly (Jue, Parramore, Estrada-Ramos, Gomez), 1:41.66,\u00a0<\/p>\n
200 Free \u2013 Lucas Jue, Poly, (1:40.88)<\/p>\n
200 IM \u2013 Vaughan Baker, Wilson (2:07.84)<\/p>\n
50 Free \u2013 Aidan Conrey, Wilson (22.49)<\/p>\n
100 Butterfly \u2013 Aidan Conrey, Wilson (54.19)<\/p>\n
100 Free \u2013 Kai Bramble, Wilson (49.44)<\/p>\n
500 Free \u2013 Keegan Abing, Wilson (5:02.63)<\/p>\n
200 Free Relay \u2013 Wilson (Bramble, Conrey, Knight, Abing), 1:31.51,\u00a0<\/p>\n
100 Backstroke \u2013 Lucas Jue, Poly (50.34)<\/p>\n
100 Breaststroke \u2013 Elijah Livingood, Poly (1:04.96)<\/p>\n
400 Free Relay \u2013 Wilson, (Bramble, Conrey, Knight, Abing), 3:17.88<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was an eventful afternoon at Long Beach Poly on Friday, as the Jackrabbits hosted their annual swimming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-231664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}