By Kyle Arechiga, Julian Bayan, & Emanuel Nader

The varsity swim team competed at the City Section finals on May 4 moving them to the State Championships at Clovis West High School on May 10-11. Granada Hills Charter (GHC) sent 15 students to the State Championship. This is the closest the team has come to earning points at a state final. They had a spectacular year.

“I’ve been on the swim team all four years of high school, and I’d say the team is doing really well,” senior Felipe Knight said. “Fifteen people qualified for state as opposed to eight from last year.”

Although they did not return with a state title, this is the second year in a row that the Girls Team has won the City Section title, their eighth overall. However this year, they had to share it with Palisades Charter High School as it ended in a tie.

The competition for the girls went to the last event, the 400-meter freestyle relay. Lauryn Cha, Isabella San Jose, Elaina Brier, and Ava San Jose competed together to win the 400-meter relay in 3:41.27. Cha, captain of the swim team, also recently won the Daily News Girls Athlete of the Week for her impressive swimming performance and records.

However, Palisades took second place in the event giving them enough points to tie Granada Hills Charter (GHC) for the final title. Both schools finished with 371.5 points. This is the first tie for the title since 1973.

The team does not let their nerves affect their performance, though, even in such close competition.

“Before the block, I felt very nervous, but once I got up there, I just zone out,” junior Breanna Navarro said. “At that point, I’m just focusing on the water and trying to imagine how it’ll be when I dive in. I try to imagine the perfect race.”

Determination and focus are two of the skills that brought the swim team their impressive records this year.

The GHC boys also won the 400-meter freestyle relay, giving them the City Section title This is their second title and first win since 2001.

Sophomore Ryan Zheng won the 200-meter freestyle in 1:44.72 and the 500-meter freestyle in 4:46.11. Senior Dominic Vargas won the 100-meter freestyle in 47.88 and the 50-meter freestyle in 21.48. Zheng and Vargas were also a part of the 200-meter freestyle relay.

GHC sealed their victory in the 400-meter freestyle relay, but it was a close match with Cleveland High School coming in at only .13 seconds behind.