Facing off against Fountain Valley and L.B. Wilson High Schools, the Timberwolves were a motivated force displaying a deep roster across all divisions at Tuesday's Triangular.  Photo courtesy of Mitch Mallough.

The Northwood Timberwolves swim plunged headfirst into the spring portion of its preseason as the team competed in a triangular meet against Fountain Valley & L.B. Wilson high schools on Tuesday, February 26, 2019 at the Northwood High School Aquatic Center.

Home pool advantage sure worked out well for the Timberwolves, as the boys brought the speed and came away defeating the Barons by a score of 122-48.  However in a tightly contested dual against the Bruins, it seem both teams held leads for what felt like only moments at a time.  Northwood and L.B. Wilson put their competitive fire on full display, but the Timberwolves lost to the Bruins 91-79.

Northwood's girls endured two losses 67-103 score against L.B. Wilson, while conceding 75-95 with Fountain Valley.  While the Lady T-Wolves were winless, the fast times they posted this early into the season are definitely confidence boosters moving forward.

“I think there were some standout performances and some learning experiences, with some close races that we missed," said Head Coach Alex Nieto.  "I had some people in different events than they're used to swimming, so it was nice to switch it up and see how they did in preparing for the next phase of our season."

Next stop, the Timberwolves are defending the den again at the Northwood High School Aquatic Center to compete against Mission Viejo and San Clemente on Tuesday, March 5, 2019.

200 FREE

Kendrick Pham began the meet for the Open Boys posting the fastest time in his division at 2:05.88 for third.  L.B. Wilson's Dylan Wally (2:05.23) and teammate Josh Edwards (2:05.82) went 1-2.  Kaitlyn Kong checked in with a second place time for the JV Girls in 2:16.56.  L.B. Wilson's Dhamer Andrade took first in 2:14.49, while Fountain Kylie Wu stretched to touch in 2:17.74 for third.  For the JV Boys junior Nicholas Miceli sealed a third place with 2:00.30, while L.B. Wilson's Brett Peoples (1:57.68) and Andrew Sorensen (1:59.94) staked a 1-2 in the event.  Coming up third for the Varsity Boys was Enoch Lee posting up a time of 1:53.04.  L.B. Wilson's Gabe Fields finished with the top time of 1:52.30, while teammate Jackson Prosser rounded third (1:52.31).

100 IM

Northwood Open Boys Austin Kenyon locked down a second place in 1:04.49, while Orlando Olague touched for third in 1:06.63.  L.B. Wilson's Cooper Zuanich registered the fastest time in 1:04.30. 

200 IM

JV Boys freshman Kevin Kong led the charge earning a top spot in the 200 IM with 2:14.05, staying close was Eric Zhu for second in 2:16.09.  L.B. Wilson's Hayden Ehrenfeld rounded third in 2:19.69.  Varsity Girls Corina Lee got out to an early lead and continued to build, so that she was virtually alone over the second half of the race winning in 2:16.86.  Fountain Valley's Megan Le marked second in 2:23.02, while Leila Marr touched in for third at 2:23.82.  Varsity Boys sophomore Henry Chen touched the first wall out in 27.50, with L.B. Wilson's Ian Escoto, and Nick Huynh third.  With the breaststroke leg to sort the field, Chen still held onto first coming into the final wall at 2:05.35 over Escoto (2:08.66) and Huynh (2:09.55).

50 Free

Sophomore Aaron Kim powered in a 25.37 for first in the Open Boys 50 Free.  L.B. Wilson's Mehrad Amirahmadi delivered second in 25.50, while teammate Caleb Martineau rounded third (25.89).  JV Girls Grace Schweizer tracked down second with a 29.21. Fountain Valley's Kirsten Wong took the top time in 28.54, while L.B. Wilson's Roxanna Snyder (29.75) for third.  Varsity Girls Freshman Lauren Kim surged for third place in 26.60, while Fountain Valley's Sarah Hopkins post first place in 25.41.  Delainey Whelan followed second (25.87).  Coleman Sun showed his top-end sprint talent for the Varsity boys charted a time of 23.14 for second.  L.B. Wilson's Hank Rivers pulled in the fastest time with 22.01, while teammate Gray Carson rounded third (23.17). 

50 Fly

Open freshman Jacob Crossman took second going 28.70 in the 50 fly for a personal best.  L.B. Wilson's Jeremy Hernadez claimed first in 28.60, while Aaron Kim put in a strong third for 29.28.

100 Fly

JV Boy's Gautam Chaudhri (1:01.70) went lights out taking the win over Fountain Valley's Sean Kemick (1:02.60).  L.B. Wilson's Nathan Morisky clocked third in 1:03.84.  Varsity Girls Fiona Fan put in a good race for the second spot touching in a 1:04.18.  Fountain Valley's Sarah Hopkins won the event in 1:01.94, while her teammate Victoria Wilcox rolled in for third 1:05.01.  The race in the Varsity Boys really came down to two swimmers, with L.B. Wilson's Max Berg (56.06) and Enoch Lai (56.63) as they surged to the top two times of the evening.  L.B. Wilson's Ian Escoto held third in 58.27.

100 Free

Open girls Sophia Smit worked her way to holding on to a third in a time of 1:08.36.  L.B. Wilson's Annie Heaslet Aubel (1:06.88) and Charley Snyder (1:07.78) went 1-2.  Northwood's Austin Kenyon checked in with a second place time for the JV Boys in 56.70.  L.B. Wilson's Caleb Martineau took first in 55.69, while teammate Nicholas Kefalas rounded third in 57.97.  The JV boys went lights out showing real depth with two finishing in the top three in this race with Justin Chung (54.57), Ben Chen (55.30), and L.B. Wilson's Lucas Emerson in for third (55.48).  Northwood's Lauren Kim got to the wall for third in the 100 Free.  L. B. Wilson's Delainey Whelan (56.71) and Fountain Valley's Jovanna Hester (58.55) went first and second in this event.  Timberwolves Colman Sun took complete control of the 100 Free with a -.55 margin over the field touching the wall with a 50.29.  L.B. Wilson's Gray Carson pulled in second (50.84), while teammate Shane Nantais registered third in 52.33.

500 Free

JV Boys Kevin Hong raced to a quick second finish touching the wall in a personal best time of 5:22.22.  L.B. Wilson's Brett Peoples charted the best time in 5:21.65, while teammate Andrew Sorensen rounded third in 5:22.87.   Northwood's Varsity Boys won the 500 Free in a close battle from Christopher Pukszta who won in 4:55.19.  Nolan Chomin concluded his individuals with a second place for the Timberwolves in 4:55.57, while L.B. Wilson's Gabe Fields ended third with 5:05.10.

50 Back

Open Boy's Oliver Allen took a victory by winning the 50 Back (29.53), and his teammate Charles Yang pulled in for third with 31.02.  The second best swimmer was L.B. Wilson's Cameron Torres (30.97).

100 Back

Northwood's JV Boys swept the 100 Back with Danny Kim jumping out to an early lead and never relented at the 50 turn (29.73), then stretched out for the touch winning in 1:00.28.  Daivik Patel gunned for second touch in 1:04.04, while Justin Chung took third in 1:04.61.   Lady T-Wolf freshman Avery Liu battled throughout the Varsity Girls 100 Back finishing first in 1:04.21.  Liu edged out teammate Fiona Fan (1:04.57), while L.B. Wilson's Leila Marr was third in 1:05.94.  On the Varsity Boys side it was Nick Huynh producing a second place in 1:00.74.  L.B. Wilson's Mazen Abouelela took the top time in 58.18, while Jackson Prosser rounded third in 1:01.82.

50 Breast

In the Open Girls Brynna Hsia won the event with a solid 28.55.  Kylie Kenyon took the second position in 39.45, while L.B. Wilson's Zoey Allen recorded third in 40.26.  Northwood junior Orlando Olague wasa diminant in the Open Boys, crushing the field in 34.98.  The battle for second went to Xuchao Li (36.81), while L.B. Wilson's Philip Whicker sealed third in 37.76.  .

100 Breast

The talent pool in Northwood's JV Girls is deep, and it showed with Lauren Nguyen posting a 1:20.99 under an extremely tight battle with L.B. Wilson's Malia Daues who came out second in 1:21.24.  Fountain Valley's Cameryn Nguyen slipped in third with 1:23.11.  Timberwolves Eric Zhu was able to close out the individual events for the JV Boys with a top time of 1:05.31.  L.B. Wilson's Branden Regala snared second in 1:08.07, while Leo Giessman leveraged a third touching in 1:09.11.  Freshman Corina Lee raced to a quick finish touching the wall with 1:09.34 for a Varsity Girls win.  Fountain Valley's Megan Le (1:16.09) and Emma Nguyen (1:16.16) went 2-3.  The Varsity Boys produced more second place accolades with senior Emiliano Olague stopping the clock in 1:01.85.  Hank Rivers dominated the event in 58.60 for L.B. Wilson, followed by Henry Chen recording a 1:04.56 for third.  

Relays
Open Girls 200 Medley -  3rd place  2:17.70  Lilly Zhao (36.46), Brynna Hsia (37.41), Caitlin Novak (33.77), Sophia Smit (30.06)
JV Boys 200 Medley -  1st place  1:57.02  Charles Yang (31.25), Orlando Olague (33.16), Jacob Crossman (27.39), Aaron Kim (25.22)
                                  -  3rd place  2:01.02  Oliver Allen (29.52), Bob Li (36.00),  Andy Kim (29.05), Jake Compton (26.45)
Varsity Girls 200 Medley  -  2nd place  1:57.57  Avery Liu (30.51), Corina Lee (32.44), Helena Zhou (29.70), Olivia Chen (24.92)
Varsity Boys 200 Medley -  2nd place  1:44.96  Nick Huynh (28.20), Emiliano Olague (28.20), Thomas Kim (25.78), Colman Sun (22.78)
                                         -  3rd place  1:46.96  Max Abravanel (28.36), Ben Liu (28.55), Enoch Lai (25.14), Noah Pendleton (24.91)
Open Girls 200 Free -  2nd place  2:01.67  Mia Tomovic Savinov (31.01), Sophia Smith (30.09), Brynna Hsia (30.06), Kylie Kenyon (31.88)
Open Boys 200 Free -  1st place  1:41.33  Aaron Kim (25.56), Niko Honda (26.18), Jacob Crossman (24.80), Austin Kenyon (24.79)
                                  -  3rd place  1:46.44  Kendrick Pham (26.72) Andy Kim (26.42), Jake Compton (26.55), Charles Shobe (26.75)
JV Girls 200 Free -  3rd place  1:59.62  Ariel Lee (29.49), Tara Esfahani (30.69), Joyce Kim (28.85), Grace Schweizer (30.59)
JV Boys 200 Free -  1st place  1:39.43  Daivik Patel (25.68), Nicholas Miceli (23.84), Eric Zhu (24.78), Dylan Green (25.13)
                             -  2nd place  1:39.52  Jack Liu (24.59), Kevin Hong (24.84), Justin Chung (25.36), Danny Kim (24.73)
Varsity Girls 200 Free -  3rd place  1:45.27  Fiona Fan (27.50), Corina Lee (25.97), Lauren Kim (26.70), Olivia Chen (25.10)
Varsity Boys 200 Free -  1st place  1:33.58  Emiliano Olague (23.46), Enoch Lai (23.26), Christopher Pukszta (n/a), Colman Sun (n/a)
Open Girls 400 Free -  3rd place  4:51.21  Kylie Kenyon (1:11.40), Shin Park (1:15.02), Lauren Thorpe (1:12.17, Mia Tomovic Savinov (1:12.62) 
Open Boys 400 Free -  2nd place  3:48.14  Kendrick Pham (58.24), Orlando Olague (56.72), Bob Li (59.10), Oliver Allen (54.08) 
                                  -  3rd place  3:54.10  Niko Honda (58.18), Charles Yang (1:00.07), Charles Shobe (1:00.28), Austin Kenyon (55.57) 
JV Girls 400 Free -  3rd place  4:23.29  Molly Mcllrath (1:06.43), Emilie Harper (1:05.84), Lauren Nguyen (1:08.42), Kaitlyn Kong (1:02.60)
JV Boys 400 Free -  1st place  3:39.68  Leo Giessman (54.71), Spencer Sellwood (56.09), Danny Kim (54.34), Ben Chen (54.54)
                              -  3rd place  3:46.44  Dylan Green (57.72), Nicholas Miceli (54.37), Gautam Chaudhry (59.44), Justin Chung (54.91)
Varsity Girls 400 Free -  3rd place  4:00.98  Lauren Kim (59.93), Avery Liu (1:04.00), Helena Zhou (1:00.68), Olivia Chen (56.37)
Varsity Boys 400 Free -  2nd place  3:32.84  Emiliano Olague (51.02), Sean Doan (53:95), Thomas Kim (55.05), Nick Huynh (52.82)