By Katelynn Luu
The Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) swim team took the lead over Newport Harbor High School on Tuesday, winning 187-153 despite the heavy, windy conditions on Senior Night. This meet marks the fifth consecutive victory for the girls’ varsity and co-ed varsity teams this season.
Girls’ varsity won with a score of 87-83, boys’ varsity won with a score of 100-70 and the combined score for co-ed varsity was 55-45. Top point-scorers included junior Peter Vu, sophomore Alyssa Ton and senior Kaitlyn Nguyen, who all respectively scored 12 points with two first-place finishes in their individual events.
As this meet marked the approach of mid-season, head coach Nathan Wilcox instructed the swimmers to wear technical suits. These suits are designed for speed and are often saved for important championship meets due to the high price that comes with the special drag-reducing and compressing technology.
At typical dual meets, swimmers usually wear the black FVHS swimsuits, which are normal swimsuits that swimmers can also practice in.
“We [wore technical suits] because we’re not doing an invitational this year,” Wilcox said. “This is halfway through the season, and so we’re treating this as an invite to see where we’re at, to see if we’re in a good spot going to [Sunset] League Finals, and to try to get some more times for CIF.”
As a team, the Barons earned five automatic CIF cuts that will guarantee the swimmers entry into CIF championships to swim the event(s) they qualified for. Two Baron relays also earned CIF consideration cuts, which allow the swimmers to be considered for entry into CIF championships if there are still free spots not filled by swimmers with automatic cuts.
The meet began with heavy winds and a sunny sky shining over the seniors as they lined up against the pool to be honored for their senior meet as their names were announced and teammates, family and friends cheered.
“As a coach, it’s always tough … you get to know these kids, and when these kids leave and graduate, it’s like your kid leaving and graduating,” Wilcox said. “So there’s a little bit of ‘I’m sad to see them go,’ but I’m happy for what’s next in their career and life.”
The 4×50 medley relay kicked off the meet, and the Barons were quick to take the lead. The Fountain Valley girls’ A and B relays won first and second place, respectively. The A relay of Ton, Kaitlyn Nguyen, freshman Audrey Prall, and senior Leyna Nguyen secured a massive 13-second lead over second place and earned a CIF consideration time. It was a close race for second, where the B relay team, consisting of sophomore Molly Rogers, freshman Taylor Le, senior Setareh Nassiri and sophomore Lucy Hadley, fought to maintain a two-second lead over third place.
The boys’ A and B relays also won first and second place respectively, although in a much closer race. The A-relay of sophomore Tyler Hoang, Vu, senior Anderson Luu and freshman Hoang Dang had a five-second lead over the second-place B relay team of sophomore Tanner Davis, freshman Andersen Nguyen, sophomore Justin Doan, and sophomore Jayden Truong, which finished with a three-second lead over third place.
In the next event, the girls’ varsity furthered their lead in the 200-yard freestyle. Ton took first place with a massive 12-second lead over Leyna Nguyen in second place, and freshman Penelope Jepson came in sixth. Ton’s dominance in the event earned her an automatic CIF time.
The boys also dominated the 200-yard freestyle with Vu in first place, another automatic CIF time. Luu finished in second and Tyler Hoang barely secured fourth, half a second behind third place.
Kaitlyn Nguyen took first place in the 200-yard individual medley with a 12-second lead over second place, again earning yet another automatic CIF time. Le sped into third place, and sophomore Kayla Nguyen finished fifth in a tight race just milliseconds behind fourth place.
The Sailors had their first victory in the boys’ 200-yard individual medley with their top swimmer, senior Aidan Arie, but the Barons still had a strong showing with Dang, sophomore Josh Pham and sophomore Aaron Pham coming in second, third and fifth place, respectively.
In the next event, 50-yard freestyle, the Lady Barons fell short to the Sailors with junior Rita Wilton, Nassiri and Rogers taking fourth, fifth and sixth place respectively, leaving the Sailors to seal the top three places.
However, the boys pushed back and extended the Barons’ lead in the 50-yard freestyle with senior Adam Singer, Andersen Nguyen and Truong coming in second, third and fifth, respectively, just within half a second of each other in a nail-bitingly tight race.
The Lady Barons turned the tables on the Sailors in the 100-yard butterfly with Ton, Hadley, and Prall taking the top three spots. Ton came in first with a lead of seven seconds over Hadley in second place, while Prall battled for third, coming in less than half a second faster than the Sailor in fourth. Ton earned another automatic CIF time in this event, her second individual CIF cut of the meet.
The Sailors’ ace swimmer Arie returned to take first in the boys’ 100-yard butterfly, but the Barons fought hard and had a strong showing in a tense race. Dang came in second just two seconds after Arie, and Doan took third, slamming into the finish barely a tenth-of-a-second faster than third place. Junior Alan Tran snagged fifth place, coming in less than half a second sooner than the Sailor in sixth place.
The scoreboard grew tighter and tighter as Leyna Nguyen took first in the 100-yard freestyle to defend the Barons’ lead, although the Sailors scavenged second, third and fourth place while Rita Wilton and Setareh Nassisri came in fifth and sixth.
The boys also fought hard for third and fourth place in the 100-yard freestyle with Adam Singer and Forsetti Tran finishing just a half second before the Sailor in fifth, and Alan Do raced into sixth place a second after.
In the longest event of the day, Hadley clinched first place for the Barons in the 500-yard freestyle, touching barely a tenth of a second faster than second place. Kayla Nguyen also scored a point coming in fifth place, while Jepsen snagged sixth.
The boys had a more decisive victory in the 500-yard freestyle with Luu taking first and junior Logan Menchaca coming just a second behind him to take second place. Freshman Ethan Menchaca scored a point, finishing in fifth place.
The Lady Barons won a crucial victory in the next event, the 4×50 freestyle relay. The A-relay Ton, Kaitlyn Nguyen, Leyna Nguyen and Hadley sped in first place and earned a CIF consideration time, although the Sailors finished in second and third place. The other Baron relays finished in fourth and sixth place.
However, the Sailors scraped a victory against the boys in the 4×50 freestyle relay. With teams coming within less than a second of each other, the Barons took second, fourth and sixth place.
The Sailors continued to close in on the Barons in the 100-yard backstroke, taking first and second place. However, Prall was able to finish third and stop a total Sailor sweep with Rogers and freshman Katie Ker coming in fifth and sixth place, respectively.
Hoang took first in the varsity boys’ 100-yard backstroke with a massive 4-second lead over second place. Meanwhile, Davis snagged third just a tenth of a second behind second place, and Truong followed in fourth place.
With the scores still tight, Kaitlyn Nguyen and Le pushed the Barons forward, coming in first and second place,e respectively in the 100-yard breaststroke. Jepsen scored a point by finishing fifth, and Kaitlyn Nguyen went her second individual CIF automatic time of the meet in this event.
The boys continued this strong showing in breaststroke with Vu, Doan, and senior Colin Cooper taking the top three spots. Vu came in first with a massive 10-second lead over second place, earning an automatic CIF cut. Doan and Cooper came in second and third respectively, in a close race, just half a second before the Sailor in fourth.
The last event of the meet, the 4×100 freestyle relay, was not in theLady Barons’ favor as the A-relay came in third place and the B-relay came in fifth. However, the girls had scored enough points to maintain their victory over the Sailors.
The boys’ A-relay managed to take first place in the 4×100 freestyle relay and close out the meet with a Baron victory, with the other relay teams following in fourth and fifth place.
“We’ve got some kids that are very versatile and well-rounded. They just swim anything,” Wilcox said. “We have to get a little better with sprinting freestyle, but everything else was pretty strong.”
To close out the meet, the seniors walked down the length of the pool to friends, family and teammates’ support and read a short bio reflecting on their experiences on the swim team and future goals.
“[The senior meet] was really well planned, and I’m really grateful for all the parents who helped out,” girls’ captain Nassiri said. “We did absolutely amazing … cheering each other on and just being on top of everything.”
The next swim meet is on Tuesday at 3 p.m., where the Barons will be facing their rivals away at Edison High School.
