Dos Pueblos boys swimming coach Chris Parrish has coached his share of dual meets in swimming, but he felt that Tuesday’s double-dual meet against Mater Dei and Santa Barbara in the Dons’ pool tops them all.
“It was freakin’ amazing. It was probably the best performance in a dual meet that I’ve ever coached kids through,” said Parrish. “The DP kids just performed today.”
The Charger boys managed to edge a red-hot Monarchs squad, as well as the Dons, thanks to a heap of notable performances. Theo Coyne and Christian Terpening took first and second ahead of Mater Dei in the 200 freestyle, an event that was won by Santa Barbara’s Karl Boscacci (the double-dual meet format pits each team against the other two separately).
Sprinter Chase Racich, in just his second day back in the pool after suffering a concussion last week, took second in the 50 freestyle and won the 100 free in 48.48 seconds, a CIF automatic qualifying time. His teammate, Nolan Gardener, finished right behind him in both events.
[nggallery id=28]Darrell Eacret pulled a Jason Lezak-esque comeback down the stretch in the 100 butterfly, winning with a CIF automatic mark of 53.80 seconds. Kevin Cappon was two-tenths of a second behind, and third-place finisher Matt Rose of Mater Dei was 0.18 seconds behind Cappon.
Sjors Van Alphen and Coyne topped Mater Dei’s swimmers in the 500 freestyle, but Boscacci — Santa Barbara’s Arizona State-bound star — had the fastest time of all in the event.
Josh Pighetti, Coyne, Racich and Gardener pulled off a come-from-behind win in the 200 free relay, and Eacret won the 100 backstroke with a CIF automatic time of 54.64 seconds. Pighetti took second behind him.
The Charger relay squads finished first and second in the 400 free relay. Parrish specifically highlighted his seniors, Gardener and Eacret.
“Nolan and Darrell really performed well today in the last dual meet of their careers,” he said. “Those guys have been swimming varsity all four years and they’ve never lost a dual meet. Today they won against a rival and a hot team from Orange County.”
On top of winning the 200 and 500 free, Boscacci also anchored the Dons’ 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams to CIF consideration times.
Dos Pueblos' Michelle Dockendorf
The Dos Pueblos girls were narrowly beaten in their matchup against Mater Dei, 52-48, while Santa Barbara fell short against both powerhouses.
The Chargers lost it on the very last event, as the 400 free relay swam one of its fastest times all season to come back and beat Mater Dei, only to find out that it DQ’d on the start.
The Chargers swam a season-best time in the 200 medley relay, winning the event in 1:51.31. It was the same foursome as the 400 free relay (Sami Hill, Janelle Nguyen, Michelle Dockendorf and Emily Rose Williams).
Dockendorf took first in the 200 IM and the 100 breast, Williams took first in the 50 free and Nguyen won the 500 Free.
The Chargers were missing the Neushul sisters, Kiley and Jamie. Jamie caught her finger on the lane line at practice on Monday and is having surgery on Thursday. Kiley was out with pneumonia-type symptoms.
“We were able to see how our relay teams stack up against a really good OC school and now know what it is going to take to be competitive at CIF,” said coach Leslie Roth. “We still have some work to do before then!”
Montana Marshall won the diving competition for the Dons, while Camille Wissman finished second in the 200 free and third in the 500 free. Kelsey O’Brien was second in the 100 free, and Charlotte Hendrix had a personal best in the 200 IM, finishing third.
Channel League prelims are on Tuesday, followed by the league finals on Friday.
