The depth of the Northwood Timberwolves team was in full display as the boy's varsity swept all individual and relay events for first place except one to win against Fountain Valley and L.B. Wilson High Schools. Photo courtesy of CoolPoolPix.
Northwood's reigning Pacific Coast League Champion varsity boys made their presence felt as they rattled off 10 of the 11 total first place wins unleashing their attack, and put together 1-2 and 1-2-3 sweeps in multiple events en route to bruising team wins over Fountain Valley and L.B. Wilson at the Northwood Aquatic Center on Tuesday, March 7, 2017.
There were plenty of strong match-ups all afternoon, but Northwood looked solid with plenty of depth in every stroke. The Timberwolves boys defeated both Sun Set League teams Fountain Valley 120-50 and L.B. Wilson 111-59, while the Lady T-Wolves lost to the Lady Barons 56-113 and tied the Lady Bruins 85-85.
“These triangular meets allow us to really stretch our legs, and see the possibilities of our team and depth of our roster." said Head Coach Alex Nieto. "Long Beach Wilson and Fountain Valley have been very gracious teams to compete against, and having them to race allows for all of our teams to really dial in what they will be working towards - dominance in the Pacific Coast League."
Next stop, the Timberwolves are amping up to compete against Mission Viejo and San Clemente on Tuesday, March 14, 2017 at the Northwood High School Aquatic Center.
200 FREE
Nathan Ree picked up 2nd place for Northwood's Open Boys with his time of 2:10.64. L.B. Wilson's Brandon Whitehurst posted the fastest time in the division at 2:08.65, while his teammate Osmar Gonzalez followed third (2:11.43). Christopher Pukszta began the meet for the JV Boys finishing second in the 200 free with 1:58.66. L.B. Wilson's Ryan Nakano (1:57.42) and Simon Wiviott (2:02.21) went 1-3. For the Varsity Boys junior Shawn Lou sealed the win dominating 1:43.03, over teammate Felix Zhu 1:49.14 staking Northwood with a 1-2 placing. L.B. Wilson's Max Berg rounded third in 1:49.28.
100 IM
Open Boys led the charge with Max Abravnel giving the Timberwolves a 100 IM victory in 1:03.91. Runner up L.B. Wilson Trevor Arcese (2:05.78) finished second, while Fountain Valley's Jimmi Arroyo closed out third in 1:06.46.
200 IM
Northwood JV Boys Rocky Gao and Sean Doan went 2-3 going 2:12.88 to 2:13.32 in the 200 IM. Fountain Valley's Jacob Reynolds locked down the top time in 2:12.52. Julia Gonik registered the second fastest time in 2:12.88 for the Varsity Girls, off her best of 2:07.18. Fountain Valley's Hannah Farrow prevailed with a solid win over the rest of the field touching first in 2:08.37. Teammate Cassie Koger held onto third in 2:19.04. Varsity Boys senior Mack Nesbit touched the first wall out in 24.99, with L.B. Wilson's Jake Zuanich second, and teammate Alan Peoples third. With the breaststroke leg to sort the field, Nesbit still held onto first 1:31.53 coming into the final wall at 1:59.50 over Zuanich (2:05.22) and Peoples (2:05.30).
50 Free
Sophomore Kaitlyn Spellman (28.54) powered in a 28.54 for third in the JV Girls 50 Free. L.B. Wilson's Emma Harper won the event in 27.27, while Fountain Valley's Samantha Bui tracked down second with a 28.23. In the JV Boys Tae In Gu took a victory by winning the 50 Free (24.44), while Fountain Valley's Dylan LeBaron recorded second in 24.73. L.B. Wilson's Joey Roman rounded third in 25.05. Timberwolves Hwa Min Sim (21.94) and Collin Press (23.01) went 1-2 in showing their top-end sprint talent scoring for the Varsity Boys.
50 Fly
The Open Boys once again put in a second for Northwood with Matthew O'Neill touching in a 29.89. Fountain Valley's Jimmi Arroyo clocked the top time in 27.62, while L.B. Wilson's Jacob Riley rounding third in 30.15.
100 Fly
Varsity Girls Josephine Manuel smashed her second race of the day in as many girls' events, going 1:02.71 for second. Fountain Valley's Hannah Farrow won the event in 58.63, while Fountain Valley's Alexander Brooks rolled in for third 1:05.68. Varsity Boys David Xue took second in 56.32 giving the only first place victory of the meet to Fountain Valley's Brandon Bees (55.39), while L.B. Wilson's Jack Berg in for third 57.16.
100 Free
Northwood's Mohamed El Shazly checked in with a second place time for the Open Boys in 1:01.71. L.B. Wilson's Brandon Whitehurst took first in 57.89, while L.B. Wilson's Andy Hernandez stretched to touch in 1:02.16 for third. On the JV Boys side, there was not much time between the top three swimmers under 55 seconds in the 100 Free. Sophomore Justin Pyne was second in 54.69, just .58 hundreds ahead was L.B. Wilson's Spencer Arcese who notched first in 54.11. Timberwolves Calvin Lin rounded third in 54.78. Northwood's Varsity sprinting is looking deep as expected. Timberwolves All-American Hunter Hitchens took complete control of the 100 Free with a huge 2 second margin over the field touching the wall with a 47.23. L.B. Wilson's Max Berg pulled in second (49.08), while junior Collin Press registered third in 51.45.
500 Free
In the JV Girls competition, Hannah Roushdy is third for Northwood going 6:18.60, while Fountain Valley's Victoria Wilcox sits first in 5:52.59. L.B. Wilson's Brooke Gruniesen followed for second in 6:06.90. L.B. Wilson's Ryan Nakano led the JV Boys field in the 500 Free with 5:16.47. Sophomore Parker Mallough is second for Northwood going a season best with a 5:28.26, while his teammate Jack Liu (5:34.28) for third. Gentlemen, start your engines! And Northwood's Gabe Munoz did, finishing well ahead in the Varsity 500 Free going out fast and building a sizable lead capturing first in 4:42.52. Teammate Felix Zhu notched second in 4:53.06, while L.B. Wilson's Mazen Abouelela for third in this event (4:53.07).
50 Back
Northwood's Max Abravanel got to the wall fastest in the 50 Back, and four seconds ahead of the rest of the competition with a 30.55. Fellow Timberwolves Mohamed El Shazly joined in touching at 34.27 for the Open Boys 1-2. The third best swimmer was Fountain Valley's Allan Ta (34.53).
100 Back
Northwood junior David Chang was the quickest competitor in the JV Boys 100 Back this afternoon. He was out in 32.07 at the 50, and held off a charging Cristian Solorzano (1:06.61) from L.B. Wilson to the wall at the finish. Chang posted a third in 1:06.61), while Fountain Valley's Kenneth Loi (1:01.70) and L.B. Wilson's Sean Choppin (1:05.69) went 1-2 respectively. Lady T-Wolf sophomore Lauren Hitchens battled throughout the Varsity Girls 100 Back finishing second in 1:05.02. Hitchens edged out Fountain Valley's Alexandra Brooks (1:05.31) on the first split 31.93 to 32.06, which held enough of a margin to the wall by .29 hundreds. Brooks teammate Cassie Koger took the event in 1:02.17. On the Varsity Boys side, Gabe Munoz won his second individual event in the 100 Back with an eye popping 52.60. Fountain Valley's Anthony Pham claimed second in 56.44 with third going to L.B. Wilson's Jack Berg (58.46).
50 Breast
In the Open Girls Lady T-Wolf Tara Esfahani took a victory by winning the 50 Breast in 38.45. Just behind her for second was Fountain Valley's Kaitlyn Do (39.21), and L.B. Wilson's Camryn Krueger founding third in 41.42. The Open Boys Ed Suh took the top position with a solid 31.39 putting in a season best. L.B. Wilson's Trevor Arcese gave him enough opposition taking second in 32.72, while his teammate David Vandevert registered the third fastest time in 33.61.
100 Breast
Sophomore Sobyn Chung leveraged a quick front half to earn a respectable second for the JV Girls 100 Breast (1:18.40). Grace Gallenher took the win for Fountain Valley in 1:16.38, followed with teammate An Dang (1:19.32). The talent pool in Northwood's JV Boys is deep, and it showed with Sean Doan posting a 1:07.97 under an extremely tight battle with Fountain Valley's Jacob Reynolds who came out on top in 1:07.70. L.B. Wilson's Zach O'Connor slipped in third with 1:08.74. Lady T-Wolf Julia Gonik made it look easy, dominating the Varsity Girls 100 Breast with a 1:07.66. L.B. Wilson's biggest challengers came from Abigail Nelson clocking a 1:08.74, and Samantha Bruner recording a 1:14.79 for third. On the Varsity Boys side, junior Henry Wu took it out in 28.06 at the 50 mark, and completely blew away the entire heat coming away with the winning time under a minute (59.19). L.B. Wilson's Alan Peoples finished second with a time of 1:01.11 followed by Northwood's Conner Budka posting 1:06.11 for third.
Relays
Open Boys 200 Medley - 1st place 1:49.08 Matthew O'Neill (21.33), Ed Suh (32.08), Max Abravanel (28.35), Mohamed El Shazly (27.32)
JV Boys 200 Medley - 3rd place 1:54.65 Justin Pyne (29.52), Noah Pendleton (32.85), Andrew Wraith (28.20), Gu Tae In (24.08)
Varsity Girls 200 Medley - 2nd place 1:55.35 Lauren Hitchens (30.29, Julia Gonik (31.55), Josephine Manuel (27.83), Olivia Chen (25.08)
Varsity Boys 200 Medley - 1st place 1:37.21 Shawn Lou (24.87), Henry Wu (27.68), Gabe Munoz (23.06), Hunter Hitchens (21.60)
- 3rd place 1:46.08 Nick Huynh (28.07), Connor Budka (29.69), Kevin Chen (25.05), David Xue (23.27)
Open Boys 200 Free - 3rd place 1:55.35 Austin Kenyon (28.66), Nicholas Miceli (28.14), Max Schell (29.49), Neil Chaudhry (30.06)
JV Girls 200 Free - 2nd place 1:55.79 Kaitlyn Spellman (29.20), Marley King (28.03), Hannah Miller (30.08), Ashleigh Spellman (27.58)
JV Boys 200 Free - 2nd place 1:39.52 Tae In Gu (24.62), Rocky Gao (25.48), Jay Kim (24.73), Calvin Lin (24.69)
Varsity Boys 200 Free - 1st place 1:29.46 Shawn Lou (21.97), Mack Nesbit (22.59), Collin Press (23.18), Hwa Min Sim (21.72)
- 3rd place 1:34.77 Youssef Elseifi (23.43), Ethan Lan (23.94), Henry Wu (24.25), Sean Gao (23.15)
Open Boys 400 Free - 2nd place 4:05.27 Max Abravanel (1:01.04), Mohamed El Shazly (1:02.22), Nathan Ree (1:04.86), Matthew O'Neill (1:00.46)
- 3rd place 4:14.06 Orlando Olague (1:03.22), Max Schell (1:06.78), Dylan Green (1:01.24), Ed Suh (1:02.82)
JV Girls 400 Free - 2nd place 4:21.00 Ashleigh Spellman (1:03.07), Hannah Roushdy (1:06.65), Sobyn Chung (1:05.50), Hannah Miller (1:05.78)
JV Boys 400 Free - 2nd place 3:42.56 Sean Doan (53.49), Parker Mallough (56.88), Spencer Sellwood (56.82), Calvin Lin (55.37
Varsity Girls 400 Free - 2nd place 3:53.91 Julia Gonik (55.39), Sarah Buting (59.28), Hayley Pham (1:01.90), Olivia Chen (57.34)
Varsity Boys 400 Free - 1st place 3:16.70 David Xue (50.67), Felix Zhu (50.12), Hwa Min Sim (47.99), Hunter Hitchens (47.92)
Tri-Meet Scores
Boys
Northwood High School 120.00 vs 50.00 Fountain Valley High School
Northwood High School 111.00 vs 59.00 L.B. Wilson High School
Girls
Fountain Valley High School 113.00 vs 56.00 Northwood High School
Northwood High School 85.00 vs 85.00 L.B. Wilson High School