Junior Emiliano Olague, representing Northwood's Varsity Boys en route to second place in the 100 Breast (1:03.74).  Olague contributed with two Top-3 performances in absence of several Northwood Varsity swimmers at their non-league season opener.  Photo courtesy of Mitch Mallough.

Mental toughness and resilience seem to be the response for today's tri-meet against Mater Dei & Santiago High Schools, as a very short-handed Northwood took a step in the right direction with one of two non-league boys wins on February 27, 2018 at the Northwood Aquatic Center.

As with several Southern California swimmers representing a USA Swimming club the beginning of high school season and season-ending Sectionals coincide this week thus many Northwood swimmers remained attached to their club team.  This is Northwood's first season competition and traditionally an important benchmark opportunity to gauge other strong swimmer's status with their training, response to off-events, and how they compete together as a group.

The Northwood Timbwerwolves freshman class stepped up in a big way establishing themselves with phenomenal scoring across divisions and genders.  Northwood's freshman winners scored in the Top-3 places (17) seventeen times in their respective individual events.  The Lady T-Wolves across all divisions for this afternoon's individuals took 16 top 3 spots respectively, while the boys came in with 18 top 3 placements.

“The great thing about this meet was there was great competition," said Head Coach Alex Nieto.  "Mater Dei and Santiago brought some performances to the meet that really elevated the competition level.  And so overall, it was a great experience to work and improve on, especially for our freshmen getting in their first meet." 

The freshman class being the real deal is a big deal for the Timberwolves.  Only with a strong group of swimmers in every division, can a team consistently win.  And the Northwood Timberwolves swim team demonstrated great depth today, which should take them a long way this season to CIF and State Championships. 

200 FREE

The Northwood Timberwolves were off the blocks with their fastest Open Boys swimmer freshman Kendrick Pham who claimed third in 2:06.87.  That followed with a third placement on the Varsity Girls side from Victoria Nguyen touching in at 2:04.72.  Mater Dei's Stephanie Su cruised to a 2:00.08 taking the event, while Santiago's Megan Cai finished second with 2:03.30.  NHS Coach Nieto put a freshman in the event for the Varsity Boys, with Coleman Sun leading the way through in 1:51.92 for second.  Mater Dei's Kaden Kaneko won the event in 1:49.91, while his teammate Vincent Matos followed third with 1:52.20.  

100 IM

Open Girls action saw Kylie Kenyon hit the wall in the 100 IM touching in a time of 1:25.82 for third. Mater Dei's Colleen Thomas (1:19.66) and Santiago's Amelia Lehman (1:21.20) went 1-2 in the event.

200 IM

JV Girls Charlotte Waddell posted second in the 200 IM (2:42.54) in a battle with Mater Dei's Paris Paz who went 2:42.31 for the win.  Santiago's Laliv Tadri was third in 2:43.21.  Meanwhile Timberwolves JV freshman Henry Chen went 2:11.14 for second, recording a first time for the season.  Santiago's Steven Upton (2:09.95), and Mater Dei's James Stanton (2:11.93) placed first and third, respectively.  On the Varsity side Mater Dei's Connor McManigal went out fast in the fly, clearing a half body length lead into the backstroke.  Junior Emiliano Olague gained quickly on his breaststroke splitting 35.55 over the field pulling closer, but McManigal split his freestyle in 28.08 enough for the win (2:01.31) to (2:04.78).  Santiago's Blake Eddow was 2:02.23 for second.  

50 Free

Northwood Open Girls Grace Hagedom clocked in a top-3 time of 31.95 for third.  Mater Dei's Izzy Morin (31.48) and teammate Madison Norell (31.67) took first and second.  Two JV freshman Jenny Han (29.81) and Joyce Kim (29.93) contributed a 2-3 for the Lady T-Wolves.  Mater Dei's Paige Bradney touched first in 28.53. Timberwolves senior Collin Press set the tone for the Varsity Boys in the 50 Free hitting the wall for first in a time of 22.52, which nears his high school best time of 21.27.  Mater Dei's Cooper Haddad placed second in 22.65 with teammate Warren Loth rounding third in 23.40.

50 Fly

There were three swimmers under 40 seconds in the Open Girls 50 Fly, first led by a huge swim from Timberwolves Kylie Kenyon (38.06) to take the second placement for Northwood.  Joining her was teammate Lilly Zhao in at 3rd (39.56), and Mater Dei's Jackie Yocam took the top time in (35.05).  Freshman Cameron An raced to second in 29.22 for the Northwood Open Boys.

100 Fly

Good vibes coming from freshman Enoch Li who picked up a third place finish in the Varsity Boys 100 Fly (58.33).  He went toe-to-toe with Mater Dei's Louis Cerda finishing second (57.85) in the race.  Putting up the fastest time of the field was his teammate Jacob Abaoag (57.71).  

100 Free

Senior Maika Marin raced to third in 1:04.97 for the Northwood JV Girls.  Paige Bradney provided the win for Mater Dei in 1:02.27, while Santiago's Gabby Stracener picked up second in 1:02.42. Northwood's Olivia Chen and Mater Dei's Lily Olson, were neck and neck into the finish of the Varsity Girls 100 Free battle for second place.  Olson had the slight advantage heading into the final 50, but closed in to take the second in 56.39.  Chen was off her personal best of 54.81, but still managed a third place in 57.81.  Santiago's Mirai Adams won the event in 54.32.  Posting the top time of the afternoon in the Varsity Boys 100 Free Collin Press posted a 50.56, just a arm length ahead of Santiago's Ryan Tinz who took second in the event in 51.15.  Mater Dei's Cooper Haddad rounded out the event for third with 51.73. 

500 Free

Timberwolves sophomore Christopher Pukszta went 5:02.60 to take third in the Varsity Boys 500 Free, while Santiago's Blake Eddow (4:54.97) and Mater Dei's Joe Inoue (4:55.44) went 1-2.  

50 Back

Northwood's Open Girls once again put one in the top three with Kacy Kesler (40.38) taking third, she was separated by Mater Dei's Madison Norell (36.84), and her teammate Izzy Morin (40.14) for first and second.

100 Back

Freshman Kenneth Duong blew away the field to win the JV Boys 100 Back.  Duong raced to the wall in 1:02.57.  Max Abravanel (1:03.81) sealed a second place finish, while Mater Dei's Miichael Redoutey rounded third in 1:04.06.  Behind the strength of backstroker Lauren Hitchens the Northwood Varsity Girls had another run of a top 3 placement success turning in a 1:05.48 for third.  Mater Dei's Brittney Miles (1:01.12) took control early for the win followed by teammate Kailia Utley (1:01.39).  Varsity sophomore Nick Huynh (59.00) provided the needed boost for Northwood in the Boys 100 Back picking up 2nd place points.  His teammate Youssef Elseifi impressed with hitting the wall in 59.74 for third.  Mater Dei's Connor McManigal earned the overall win in 58.26.

100 Breast

In the JV Girls race, Lady T-Wolves Maika Marin (1:22.19) and Mater Dei's Mia Adsen (1:26.54) were separated for the top 2 spots by 4.35 seconds. Northwood junior Tara Esfahani had a close battle with Adsen, but pulled in third (1:27.57).  On the JV Boys side of the pool freshman Henry Chen managed to hold the lead touching in at 1:06.05.  Mater Dei's Thomas Classen touched in at 1:08.28, while not far behind his Northwood's Ed Suh grabbed the third spot in 1:09.42.  Northwood's JV Girls ruled the 200 IM to the tune of three wins.  That included Amanda Nguyen (2:28.19), Katrina Loye (2:32.81), and Sobyn Chung (2:38.74).  Northwood's Varsity Boys blasted a commanding sweep with Coleman Sun finishing well ahead in 1:02.88.  Second went to Emiliano Olague in 1:03.74, the third fastest swim was locked down by Connor Budka with 1:04.99.

Relays
Open Girls 200 Medley -  2nd place  2:31.89  Kylie Kenyon (39.58), Nainika Mateti (45.69), Danah Hammoud (35.77), Kacy Kesler (30.85)
Open Boys 200 Medley -  3rd place  2:02.61  Austin Kenyon (30.75), Jinwoo Park (32.95), Mengshu Zhang (32.73), Noah Wilmot (26.18)
JV Girls 200 Medley -  2nd place  2:12.96  Alejandra Aramayo (34.27), Maika Marin (36.29), Tara Tran (32.00), Grace Schweizer (30.40)
JV Boys 200 Medley -  2nd place  1:50.83  Kenneth Duong (29.13), Henry Chen (29.92), Alex Overbaugh (27.07), Adrian Fontao (24.71)
                                  -  3rd place  1:51.38  Max Abravanel (29.54), Ed Suh (30.85), Gautam Chaudhri (26.97), Calvin Lin (24.02)
Varsity Girls 200 Medley  -  3rd place  1:56.80  Lauren Hitchens (30.05), Olivia Chen (32.46), Josephine Manuel (27.82), Malak Hassouna (26.47)
Varsity Boys 200 Medley -  3rd place  1:44.55  Youssef Elseifi (27.33), Connor Budka (29.58), Justin Pyne (27.21), Collin Press (21.77)
Open Girls 200 Free -  1st place  2:00.45  Yuna Cook (32.63), Sylvia Ryu (33.50), Danah Hammoud (37.63), Ana Ma (no data)
Open Boys 200 Free -  2nd place  1:50.49  Cameron An (27.36), Austin Kenyon (25.92), Kevin Yao (29.30), Neil Chaudhry (27.91)
Varsity Girls 200 Free -  3rd place  1:49.18  Haley Pham (27.66), Fiona Fan (27.78), Josephine Manuel (26.56), Malak Hassouna (27.18) 
Open Girls 400 Free -  3rd place  5:07.93  Kylie Kenyon (1:18.22), Nainika Mateti (1:22.47), Grace Hagedorn (1:13.45), Kacy Kesler (1:13.79) 
Open Boys 400 Free -  3rd place  4:06.76  Kendrick Pham (58.23), Mengshu Zhang (1:07.51), Grant Lai (1:00.63), Noah Wilmot (1:00.39) 
Varsity Girls 400 Free -  3rd place  3:59.31  Malak Hassouna (59.42), Josephine Manuel (1:01.47), Victoria Nguyen (57.95), Olivia Chen (1:00.47)
Varsity Boys 400 Free -  3rd place  3:32.15  Connor Budka (52.34), Sean Gao (53.46), Justin Pyne (54.72), Youssef Elseifi (51.63)