The Foothill Knights swim team were more than a worthy opponent, and was a good litmus test for Northwood's true ability as a team.  Photo courtesy of Alex Tolkachev.

Given the caliber of the Northwood High School swim team, the Timberwolves showed remarkable consistency throughout the 2021 regular dual meet season.  However with all things considered, today's matchup at the Northwood High School Aquatic Center with the Foothill Knights was Northwood's staunched test putting extra wind in their sails heading into the post season championships.  

The Timberwolves mostly stayed true to their league standing swimming well enough in the winning column and away with the team scoring tally.  Northwood boys secured a 54 point margin of victory 112-58, while the girls kept it very close but fell 78-92.

The Foothill Knights swim team were more than a worthy opponent, and was a good litmus test for Northwood's true ability as a team.  Foothill placed 6th out of 37 high schools at the 2019 Southern Section CIF DI Championships, and suffice as a good measuring stick for the Timberwolves drawing near post season.

Northwood Coach Nieto's success has correlated with an arrangement of events allowing full team rosters to be consistently challenged during the regular season.  That strategy seems to be working as Northwood's depth put it all together consistently for today's Foothill match-up.

“This was a pretty big meet for us. They're one of the better high school teams we've swam against this season," said Northwood Head Coach Alex Nieto. "It was a unique challenge, and proud of how our entire team pulled together today."  

The Timberwolves has one more shot to another league season defining win next week against Laguna Hills High School on Wednesday, May 12th at 2:00 pm.  Northwood had a great campaign this season, but the two most difficult steps are still ahead in post season - Pacific Coast League Championships and Southern Section CIF DI Championships.  Stay tuned....

200 FREE

Northwood's Open Girls Rachel Yokota left nothing to chance, surging to first in the field with a 2:18.41 on a personal best.  Foothill's Emma Sosa clocked in for second (2:25.04), while Katerina Dilday finished third (2:37.882).   Open Boys saw Christian Thorpe powering in a top time with 2:09.29.  Foothill's Santiago Torres touched for second in 2:11.19, while Aditya Rawat rounded third (2:11.73).   JV Girls Melissa Lam and Sarah Hsu went 2-3 going 2:11.97 to 2:12.69 in the 200 Free.  Ella Miller from Foothill won the event in 2:10.87.  JV Boys put two in the top three with Benton Cheng (1:51.07) and Rijad Ceranic (1:53.01) for a 1-2 punch finish to the wall.  Foothill's Alon Elbaz in for third 1:56.48.  Lady T-Wolf Acile Jammoul stretched to the touch second in 2:00.53 for the Varsity Girls.  Foothill's Chloe Hickman registered the fastest time in 1:58.74, while Erin Kim took third in 2:03.61. Northwood Varsity Boys took the top two places with Timberwolves senior Zachary Waddell who got the early lead over teammate freshman Younghun Kim (1:45.53), and roared home to win the event in 1:45.47.  Foothill's Noah Rowe held down third in 1:47.02.

100 IM

Sophmore Claire Cho came through for the Open Girls placing second in the 100 IM (1:13.29).  Foothill's Bridget Bevan won the event in 1:12.25 with Priscilla Vaglienty rounding third (1:17.28).  Meanwhile Aditya Harri closed hard in heat 1 to take the top time overall in 1:04.55.  Andy Gao checked in for second with 1:04.99, while Foothill's Adam Villarreal sits third in 1:07.43.

200 IM

JV Girls Vivian Guo pulled off a 37.84 backstroke split that led her through the last 100 yards of the race as the fastest performer in 1:52.91.  Foothill's Madison Garner (1:56.44) and Madeline Riley touching behind for 2-3.  Northwood teammates Anthony Foo (2:04.12), Ryan Xu (2:10.63), and William Chen (2:15.76) didn't disappoint as they produced a triple win for the JV Boys.  Varsity Lady T-Wolves Kim Huynh was out like a rocket turning at the 100 with fly/back over in 1:02.14 which kept her in control for second touching in 2:14.01. Taylor Inouye finished off third in 215.70.  Foothill's Cameron Mykkanen won the event in 2:08.35.  Northwood's Varsity Boys lined up the duo of Christopher Leung (1:49.99), and Colman Sun (2:01.18) scoring together for a 1-2.  Foothill's Liam Harrison rounded third (2:02.66).

50 Free

The Open Boys put two in the top three with sophomore Michael Li (25.29) taking first, with Jalen Hsia for third in 25.69.  Foothill's Colin Miller touches the wall for second in 25.55.  Kendrick Pham won the JV Boys 50 Free in 23.35, beating out teammate Justin Chung going 24.10.  Foothill's Nicholas Eagan touched just behind them in 24.15 rounding third.  In the Varsity Girls 50 Free, Lauren Kim (27.00) and Genevieve Chomin (27.02) showed their top end talent accomplishing a 2-3, while Foothill's Sophia DeLuca took the event in 25.19.  A fast 50 freestyle field saw Timberwolves Kenneth Duong ripping under 23 seconds in 22.24 taking the top spot.  Nailing down the 2-3 were Foothill's Owen McDonald (22.31) and Gavin Nelson (22.59).

50 Fly

Open Boys freshman Johan Lamm grabbed the second spot in 30.13, while Joshua Bonode rolled in for third (30.80).  Foothill's (29.94) provided the win in 29.94.

100 Fly

Northwood's JV Girls Ainsley Zapata surged to second in the field with a 1:12.40 on a personal best.  Foothill's Ella Miller in for first (1:08.34), while Maizy Abbey finished third (1:14.30).  JV Boys Ryan Xu swam a strong first place in 58.91 for the JV Boys 100 Fly.  Gavin Lai helped that effort surging for a third to touch the wall in 1:01.93.  Foothills's Caleb Dufour recorded second (1:00.04).  Varsity Girls Avery Liu closed out third in the 100 Fly event (1:06.48).  Foothill's Cameron Mykkanen (58.25) and Sophia DeLuca (1:02.19) checked in 1-2.  The Varsity Boys got some butterfly points from Ryley Yoo registering second in 54.39, while Younghun Kim picked up third (54.03).  Foothill's Owen McDonald put in the best time of 57.15.

100 Free

Open Girls Claire Cho registered the third fastest time for the Timerwolves with a 1:07.91.  Foothill's Katerina Dilday charted first in 1:06.00, while Elizabeth Lascurian posts second (1:07.24).  In the Open Boys Aaron Kim and Foothill's Colin Miller challenged each other in the first 50 yards out only five one-hundreds of a second separated them. Kim pulled away in the second half of the race stopping the clock 55.03 to Miller 55.38.  Aditya Harri held off the rest of the field touching third in 57.21.  On the JV Girls side, junior Sarah Hsu closed out her individual event posting a third place finish in 1:02.30.  Foothill's Peyton Paul-Pierson (59.74) and Lauren Pearson (1:01.05) went 1-2.  Northwood JV Boys were back at it again with a 1-2 finish from Rijad Ceranic(51.46) and Justin Chung (53.18).  Foothill's Riley Stringham pulled in for third (54.81). Lauren Kim highlighted the Varsity Girls charting a time of 57.19 for third.  Foothill's Sydney Maccabe took the event in 55.25, while teammate Erin Kim closed out second in 56.39.  Another nice swim from the Varsity Boys getting a 48.95 freestyle from Jeremy Mah touching in second, and Colman Sun ending third with a 50.07.  Foothill's Noah Rowe took first (59.97).

500 Free

In the JV Girls 500 Free, Melissa Lam (5:57.53) and Charlotte Waddell (5:58.40) went 1-2 in showing their distance talent.  Foothill's Megan Kelly took third in 6:10.81.  The JV Boys led the charge with Benton Cheng (5:10.00) giving the Timberwolves a title win in the 500 Free.  Foothill's William Griswold touched second 5:24.94, while Jagger McMannis was third in 5:29.96.  Among other notable performances on the Varsity Girls side included Addison Cadena showing her distance talent leaving the rest of the field in their wake dropping a 5:24.13 lifetime best for the win.  Cadena broke through from Foothill's Keeley Tully (5:34.02), snatching the lead at the 200 mark out-split Tully on every 50 over the back-half of the race delivering a 9.89 second advantage.  Emily Ollendorff rounded third in 5:36.70.  Varsity Boys senior Zachary Waddell delivered a double win of the day as well, and made a statement winning in the 500 Free as he touched the wall in 4:41.06.  Teammates Nolan Chomin (4:48.70) and Michael Abshier (5:00.59) finished the triple win for Northwood.

who left the rest of the field in their wake with a 2.01 second advantage over University's 3:57.66.  Irvine rounded third in 3:58.85.

 

50 Back

Northwood Open Boys went 1-2 in the 50 Back when Joshua Bonode and Jalen Hsia touched in 29.74 and 29.78.  Foothill's Zachary Beale snagged third in 33.16.

100 Back

JV Girls Kacy Kesler was dialed in with a first place finishing the event in 1:12.15.  Charlotte Waddell recorded third in 1:15.11.  Foothill's Jesse Massey clocks in for second (1:13.37).  JV Boys Kendrick Pham (55.74) and Daivik Patel (1:00.72) established themselves as the fastest top two finishers in the 100 Back.  Foothill's Nicholas Eagan rounds third (1:00.98).  The Varsity Girls had a 1-2 stronghold on the 100 Back with Genevieve Chomin (1:00.24) and Acile Jammoul (1:02.17) holding pace throughout the race together.  Foothill's Chloe Hickman was right behind for third with a 1:02.94.  Timberwolves junior Jermy Mah was dialed in with an impressive 100 Back for the Varsity Boys finishing the event in 54.01.  Teammate freshman Elson Lee clocked in for third (55.94).  Foothill's Jakob Tallman closed out second in 54.90.  

50 Breast

Northwood JV Girls put two in the top three spots with Rachel Yokota (39.69) and Sanjana Venkatesh (42.64).  Foothill's Priscilla Vaglienty ended with third (42.76).

100 Breast

In the JV Girls Zoe Liu took a victory by winning the 100 Breast (1:15.17) with a big margin.  Foothill's Madeline Riley posted a time of 1:18.40 for second, and Vivian Guo just behind for third in 1:21.07.  JV Boys picked up three more wins for a triple in the 100 Breast with Anthony Foo (1:03.97), Josue Olague (1:04.47), and Grant Lai (1:05.62).  Varsity sophomore Taylor Inouye swam a fast 100 breaststroke turning in a top time of 1:07.82.  Foothill's Charisse Hickman surfaced for second in 1:07.96, while Claire Poissonnier placed third with 1:13.08.  Another nice swim from the Varsity Boys getting a 56.76 breaststroke from Leung Christopher, along with Ben Liu in 58.48.  Foothill's Calvin Woolfok ended with a 1:01.99.

Relays

Open Girls  200 Medley -  2nd place  2:27.41  Claire Cho (34.02), Rachel Yokota (41.78), Emma McDowell (33.48), Nicole Karraa (38.13)
Open Boys 200 Medley  -  1st place  1:54.60  Jalen Hsia (30.02), Andy Gao (33.51), Christian Thorpe (27.21), Aaron Kim (23.86)
                                        -  2nd place  2:00.77  Aditya Harri (31.73), Michael Li (31.68), Joshua Bonode (30.76), Mengshu Zhang (26.60)
JV Girls 200 Medley -  1st place  2:06.98  Emilie Harper (33.49), Zoe Liu (33.99), Britney Cao (31.71), Kacy Kesler (27.79)
JV Boys 200 Medley -  1st place  1:45.52  Kendrick Pham (26.15), Grant Lai (29.07), Ryan Xu (25.22), Justin Chung (25.08)
                                  -  2nd place  1:50.03  David Patel (28.19), Josue Olague (30.75), Evan Eich (26.63), Andrew Harper (24.46)
Varsity Girls 200 Medley  -  2nd place  1:53.92  Avery Liu (28.48), Taylor Inouye (31.69), Helena Zhou (28.06), Lauren Kim (25.69)
Varsity Boys 200 Medley -  1st place  1:38.01  Jeremy Mah (24.99), Ben Liu (26.74), Colman Sun (24.19), Kevin Hong (22.09)
                                        -  3rd place  1:41.46  Elson Lee (25.95), Henry Chen (28.43), Ryley Yoo (24.15), Ryan Connole (22.93)