Concord Swim Championships, County Meet climax rec swim season next 2 weekends
CONCORD, CA (July 21, 2023) — The 56th Concord Swimming Championships will not be at its usual home of Concord Community Pool this weekend when 12 teams and nearly 1100 recreation swimmers compete at Northgate High School in Walnut Creek for the third year in a row.
Springwood Swim Club has organized and run the City Meet for decades and had a verbal understanding with the City of Concord to return the Concord Swimming Championships to its long-time home of Concord Community Pool in 2023 before meet director Dori Freitas was informed just days later that there was a conflict for the July 21-23 meet weekend.
The lineup of teams at this year’s City Meet includes perennial champion Dana Hills of Clayton plus Forest Hills of Martinez, Forest Park, Gehringer Park, Oakhurst Orcas, Pleasant Hill Dolfins, host Springwood, Vista Diablo, Walnut Country, Bishop Estates, Crockett and Ygnacio Wood.
DHST will be seeking its 30th Concord City Meet championship since the Otters won its first A Division title in 1992. Ygnacio Wood hopes to repeat as B Division winners.
Last year’s exciting season finale in Lafayette at Acalanes High School saw Dana Hills claim its second straight Contra Costa County Meet championship while Springwood won the Division III county title.
The City Meet schedule at Northgate includes the individual medley and new 50 freestyle for 15-18 age group on Friday evening starting at 5 p.m. with butterfly, freestyle and medley relays on Saturday. The meet concludes Sunday with breaststroke, backstroke and free relay. Admission is free and the Saturday and Sunday meets start at 8:30 a.m.
Devil Mountain Pentathlon welcomed 11 teams
The 28th Devil Mountain Pentathlon hosted by Dana Hills Swim Team last month in Clayton featured 16 teams and 900 swimmers with the Sun Valley Rays coming out as the team champion.
The host Otters are not included in the team scoring because Dana Hills always has the largest number of swimmers entered at their home pool. In the unique Pentathlon format, each boy and girl swims five races in a day with their cumulative time accounting for individual placings.
The final team standings after Sun Valley were Martinez Community Otters, Forest Hills Beavers, Ygnacio Wood Seahorses and Rancho Colorados Wahoos in the top five.
There were two pool records set during the meet. Chooch Branich of DHST beat the 25-yard butterfly pool mark for six and under girls. She broke a record previously held by her older sister Charley Branich.
Lucy Kao of Rancho Colorados set a new 50-yard backstroke pool record for 13-14 girls.
The Pentathlon also announced its 2024 edition will be on June 22-23.
Jay Bedecarré
Jay Bedecarré is a long-time resident and writer in Concord and Clayton. He began his newspaper writing career while still a senior at Mt. Diablo High School and he has been part of The Pioneer since its inception in 2003. Jay also operates Bay Area Festivals, presenting events around the San Francisco Bay Area including Bay Area KidFest annually in Downtown Concord.