Gehringer Park, Dana Hills win city meet championships
Gehringer Park surprised everyone with their first team championship in memory at the 53rd annual Concord City Meet at the end of July. The Gators third-year head coach Kelly McCabe McYoung (second from right) swam for the Gators as a youngster and helped lead them to the unexpected B Division title this summer.
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Three local swim teams shared the spoils with overall championships in the recreation season’s final two big meets of the summer. Gehringer Park was the surprise winner of the 53rd Concord City Meet B Division while perennial champs Dana Hills of Clayton won the A Division for the 27th time in 28 years.
Not to be outdone, Forest Park Swim Team took its second Contra Costa County Division II championship in five years a week later in Lafayette while Dana Hills was third in Division I, the ninth consecutive year the Otters have been among the top three teams in the county.
As is usually the case, Dana Hills’ dominance was played out in the City Meet relay races with the Otters winning 16 of 24 relays.
There were eight meet records set in Concord Community Pool including two by 16-year-old Jacob Soderlund of Springwood in the 15-18 100-yard backstroke and individual medley. Dana Hills’ Molly Boland, John Parker and Zoe Lahanas also set new meet standards along with two Otter’s relays. Evalinne Vecchio of Forest Park set the other new mark.
The Dana Hills girls 11-12 medley relay won both the Concord City and County meet championships to culminate a successful summer. The quartet of, from left, Zoe Lahanas, Brooke Koller, Claire Mohrland and Molly Boland set a new City Meet record of 1:58.3. A week later the Otters 11-12 relay with Abigail Adent in place of Mohrland won County in an even faster 1:57.2.
DHST had eight A Division (Ava Kate Cottam, Lahanas, Paige Landstrom, Ian Meyer, Vince Della Santina, Jacob Ceja, Michael Albert and Kyle Hetherton) and four B Division (Tyler Foley, Jessica Nielsen, Camila Balmaceda, Angelica Dharmani) high-point winners.
Other City Meet B Division high-point swimmers from local teams included Ygnacio Wood’s Jesse Lien (6 and under), Michelle House (13-14) and Olivia Patterson (15-18), Gehringer Park’s Nico Bushnell (13-14), Elyse Vannier (9-10), Meghan Andrade (11-12) and Kaylee Pond (15-18), Oakhurst’s Alexander Jenson (7-8), Dana Hills Tyler Foley (11-12), Dharmani (6 and under), Camila Balmaceda and Jessica Nielsen (13-14), Walnut Country’s Rebecca Darnell (7-8), Springwood’s Kanaloa Ka’ai (9-10) and Bryan Ruiz (15-18) of Bishop Estates.
In the A Division Forest Park’s Rebecca Griffin (9-10) and Vecchio (13-14) were top scorers. Other high winners were Vista Diablo’s Maraina Didenko (7-8), Springwood’s Enya Castaneda (15-18) and Soderlund (15-18) and Gehringer’s Nico Lawler (6 and under).
The two meet relay awards went to Dana Hills with the record-breaking 11-12 girls medley relay of Lahanas, Brooke Koller, Claire Mohrland and Molly Boland and the boys 13-14 medley quartet of Colton seastrand, Kyle Hetherton, Jack Parker and Jimmy Albert.
Forest Park head coach Jeff Mellinger (top right) capped his 20th year in charge of the Flyers with the Division II title at the County Meet. Celebrating with the coach in Lafayette were, front row, JJ Rodriguez and Trinity Rodriguez; back row, coach Niki Rodriguez, Arie Vanhoven, Kyla Joseph, coach Jenny Vonnegut and Isabel Ragland.
Forest Hills Swim Team won the Team Sportsmanship award at City Meet, which is hosted by Springwood and featured over 1050 swimmers.
The meet will reportedly be held at a new venue for the next two years due to a date conflict with the Far Western USA Swimming meet hosted by the Terrapin Swim Team.
Flyers shine at County
Coach Jeff Mellinger celebrated his 20th year at Forest Park with the Flyers taking another County Meet title in Division II. Juliannah Colchico-Greeley and Vecchio were second and third in the 13-14 high point results at county to help Forest Park to their impressive 899 points to easily win their division.
Rebecca Griffin, 11-12 boys and 13-14 girls medley relays and both 15-18 girls relays were also big scorers for Forest Park.
Dana Hills finished third this year at county but with its closest finish in points to 15-time champion Crow Canyon Country Club. Blackhawk Swim team edged the Otters for second place. Cottam, Lahanas and Albert each claimed high-point awards. Lahanas, Koller and Boland were all in the top four 11-12 girls scorers.
Soderlund won two events and won 15-18 high point at county. His Springwood team was fourth in Division II while Ygnacio Wood took eighth.
In Division III, Gehringer Park was fifth and Walnut Country seventh at county.
City Meet Team Scores
A Division: Dana Hills Otters 1105.5 points, Forest Park Flyers 622, Springwood Sprinters 505, Ygnacio Wood Seahorses 400, Oakhurst Orcas 250.5, Gehringer Park Gators 225, Walnut Country Stingrays 194.5, Pleasant Hill Dolfins 188, Bishop Estates Barracudas 180, Forest Hills Beavers 101.5, Vista Diablo Dolphins 90.
B Division: Gehringer Park 331.5, Springwood 291.5, Dana Hills 254, Ygnacio Wood 237, Pleasant Hill Dolfins 208, Forest Park 204, Bishop Estates 175, Walnut Country 130, Forest Hills 106, Vista Diablo 104, Oakhurst 103.
City Meet Individual
Concord and Clayton team’s finishers (top 4 City Meet – A and B Divisions)
Bishop Estates: Maddie Bautista, Joaquin Hernandez, Annaliese Ysmael, Donovan Ballot, Justin Ellis, Julianna Ruiz, Jocelyn Ruiz, Teddy Conger, Bryan Ruiz, Malachi Shaw, Avery Wood, Xavier Ysmael, Natalie Leskowicz, Jaden Holmes Joseph, Ashley Sabas, Scarlett Parra, Dawson Teitsma, Johnny Borba, Bella Auerbach, Joey Collins, Mia Jee, Makayla Huston.
Dana Hills: Elsa Jeffress, Ian Meyer, Rhys D’Arcy, Megan Meyerson, Vince Della Santina, Preston Marks, Brooke Koller, Michael Albert, Dominick Maffei, Mandy Meyerson, Summer Claibourne, Kyle Hetherton, Paige Landstrom, John Parker, Harper Lanpher, Jacob Ceja, Molly Boland, Zoe Lahanas, Shawn Boland, Caela Hetherton, Ava Kate Cottam, Isla Acosta, Jemma Jacques, Kieran Dharmani, Rebecca Adent, Abagail Adent, Colton Seastrand, Sadie James Peacock, JJ Westbrook, Will Miller, Jules Della Santina, Zva Taylor, Audrey Mccombe, Preston Forney, Maya Ahluwalia, Victoria Smith, Alex Lahanas, Claire Mohrland, Thea Jeffress, Jordan Newman, Cole Branich, Brody Gianni, Brandon Vogler, Cooper LeSage, Patrick MacDonald, Yoshiye Longley, Bailey Fahey, Dyllan Johnson, Camila Balmaceda, Jimmy Albert, Spencer Cichurski, Tyler Foley, David Wishnow, Angelica Dharmani, Connor Mohrland, Kaia Brogan, Kaiden Tali, Keaton Curtis, Jessica Nielsen, Asa Johnson, Aiden Johnson, Keegan D’Arcy, Madelyn Vines, Elena White, Kiera Kreutzinger, Bailey McNeel-Caird.
Forest Park: Rebecca Griffin, Isabel Ragland, Kyla Joseph, Andrew Dawson, Rayna Stanziano, Juliannah Colchico-Greeley, Tommy Martin, Caitlin Biles, Jaden Nieves, Evalinne Vecchio, Giulianna Lucia, JJ Rodriguez, Raymond Lucia, Kaylie Walker, Melia Tourady, Hailey Hix, Enzo Randolph, Conor Halley-McCarty, Arie Vanhoven, Adrienne Steen, Zoe Booth, Caitlin Biles, Aubrey Newton, Connor Griffin, Cameron Reinig, Alena McCurdy, Colton Merrill, Cameron Crow, Jaren Lopez, Thayne Merrill, Avery Shinn, Emma Tayas, Ben Duran, James Llata, Kahil Padilla, Bella Hernandez, Gabriel Martin, Isaac Ibanez, Regino Rubio, Rowan Vecchio.
Gehringer Park: David Giordano, Lilly Weires, Niko Lawler, Madison Haynes, Avery Boughton, Mina Paje, McKenna Andrade, Leilani Mestas, Elyse Vannier, Isabella Jimenez, Meghan Andrade, Joshua Sheehy, Hannah Jacobs, Haylie Jacobs, Kaylee Pond, Nico Bushnell, Quinn Wann, Qlaschelle Scholten, Tano Bushnell, Eli Oleole, Preston Courchaine, Sophia Busnell, Leilani Mestas, Frances Asselin, Maddox Scharper, Cooper Kirkendall, Marley Galloway, Joshua Sheehy, Anna Weires, Olivia Pelletier, Hailey Haynes, Logan Jacobs.
Oakhurst: Tyler Brown, Rhys Delaney, Grace Smith, Oliver Lutz, Ellie Comfort, Robert Griffith, Skylar Bennett, Nathan Stojanovich, Asher Wan, Haley Brown, Emma Wilcox, Ryan Collier, Eve Drazek, Alexander Jenson, Ruby Masterson, Christian O’Brien, Charlie Mohr.
Springwood: Joaquin Hernandez, Maya Canada, Gianna Kougios, Athena Marquez, Jacob Soderlund, Zack Chau, Brooklyn Henggeler, Maddon Hertzfeldt, Ke’olani Ka’ai, Enya Castaneda, Donna Talmadge, Trinity Hockel, Makaela Summers, Derek Tizon, Eric Tizon, Kanaloa Ka’ai, Mary Richard, Savannah Freitas, Juliana Rattaro, Damyn Vandevoir, Matthew David, Fiona Canada, Liam Newlin, Elias Salfiti, Velvet Quinlavin, Makena Cooper, Brayden Newlin, Allie Buchholz, Nick Mucha, Sophia Salfiti, Aaralynn McDonald, Miles Prendergast, Noah Shahan, Caitlyn Nash, Damik Van Fanos, Sara Corkan, Trevor Montana, Kaleb Josephson, Ella Hertzfeldt, Paige Ferrari.
Vista Diablo: Marina Didenko, Luke Malmstrom, Sofina Deassis, India Bailey, Julien Lutz, Avalon Bailey, Aidan Sutton, Piper Krauss, Melina Baldovino, Chloe Visacarra, Kiley Johnson, Olivia Baldovino.
Walnut Country: Alyssa Nonaka, Ramsey Lewis, Brayden Shen, Brady Cannon, Benjamin Nonaka, Sophie Liu, Oliver Knoflick, Kirin Harish, Kaedyn Harish, Patrick Ibrahim, Rebecca Darnell, Miles Louie, Sarah Kindorf, Colin Bausley, Ashlyn Huckestein, Kai Sonoda, Gabriella Williams.
Ygnacio Wood: Michael Manuel, Andrew Hallett, Kai Welsh, Tommy Meriam, Luke Jabbour, Abram Herther, Cassie Harrisher, Steven Galli, Jenna Moorhouse, Julia Jabbour, Zach Jabbour, Caleb Christy, Olivia Patterson, Anna Lindsay, Ruby Neighman, Emily Marques, Daniel Notcovich, Noah Shelley, Kate Vernon, Jesse Lien, Jessica Yasinsac, Leah Brown, Joseph Kosich, Michelle House, Sonia-Grace Felfela, Amelia Herther, Romi Notcovich, Marcus Manuel, Mary Rosette.
Photo Gallery
