Under favorable weather conditions, the Pacific League swimming finals was held at Burbank High on Thursday and the team standings and individual races went essentially according to form.
Two league records fell as Burroughs sophomore Maya Wilson placed first in the 200 yard freestyle after coming in at 1.51.73.
The old mark was held by Crescenta Valley’s Heather MacDougal, who swam 1.51.76 in 2013.
The other record smashed was by Crescenta Valley freshman Amanda Petersen, who won the 100 breaststroke (1.05.16), breaking MacDougal’s 1.05.23 in 2013.
Petersen was a double winner after also taking the 200 individual medley (2.08.45).
Wilson placed first in the 500 freestyle (4.59.15) and was part of a foursome that took fourth in the 400 freestyle relay (4.03.62) that included senior Marlena Skrabak, senior Bianca Sanchez and junior Aleah Orozco.
Wilson was on the team that garnered fourth in the 200 medley relay (2.06.71) that included senior Annabelle Morning, Skrabak and sophomore Emmanuella Nathan.
“I went in trying to have no expectations,” Wilson said of her day in the pool. “I was just trying to improve, whether it was my times or my mindset. After I finished, it was a moment of relief.”
Wilson then added: “Working in practice every day. Seeing if I can improve every day. I try to stay in the moment and focus on the now,” she noted. “I focus on how I can improve my race. I’m focusing on CIF and see what I can do. I’m pushing myself to new limits in all my practices or trying to.”
Burbank sophomore David Lee also had a day to remember and was another double winner after taking first place in the 50 freestyle (23.05) and the 100 freestyle (50.17).
“I felt all sorts of emotion and excitement,” Lee said. “I think about the long run. How fast I want to get two years from now and how do I have to train every single day to get to achieve that process. Get to that level. I try to train as hard as I can every single day to get to that level. One hundred perfect effort.”
Lee was a member that included senior Isaac Yang, junior Dorian Andrei and sophomore Ryan Feldman that garnered third place in the 400 freestyle relay (3.28.66) and part of a squad that included freshman Arsen Rostomyan, junior Gevorg Vardanyan and Yang that grabbed fourth place in the 200 freestyle relay (1.36.19).
As far as team standings, the Burroughs girls’ varsity placed third with 196 points while Burbank was fifth (173 points).
The Burbank boys’ varsity took third (248 points) while Burroughs was sixth (157 points).
“We had mostly all best times today,” Burbank coach Cody Parker said of his teams. “Obviously we had David Lee win two individual events and the boys’ 200 individual medley got consideration. So there’s a lot to be proud of as a team.”
Burroughs coach Jacob Cook was pleased with Wilson. “Maya is very impressive,” he noted. “Maya did some incredible stuff. She puts in the work. Her talent is just insane. She’s special. I just told her before the race, to go for it.”
Cook spoke about his teams. “There’s a lot of PR’s today,” he said. “A win for me is not just scores, but it’s to beat individual times.”
The Crescenta Valley girls’ varsity took first with 558 points, Arcadia grabbed second (474), Pasadena was fourth (178), Hoover sixth (153) and Glendale nabbed seventh (139).
In the boys’ varsity, Crescenta Valley was first (571), Arcadia took second (420.5), Hoover was fourth (165.5), Glendale placed fifth (161) and Pasadena took seventh (110).
Other strong outings included Burroughs’ junior Reigh Abaoag taking second place in the 100 yard butterfly (52.89) and third in the 100 yard breaststroke (1.01.31).
The Burbank foursome of junior Michelle Morlock, sophomore Simone Bethel, junior Emily Udall and senior Angelica Perez took third in the 200 medley relay (2.04.86).
Udall also placed third in the 500 freestyle (5.46.97), sixth in the 100 butterfly (1.04.99) and was part of a foursome that included sophomore Simone Bethel, sophomore Geneva Bethel and Morlock that finished sixth in the 400 freestyle relay (4.12.83).
In the boys’ 200 medley relay, the team of Rostomyan, Feldman, Andrei and Vardanyan finished third (1.45.87).
Other solid placings included the Burroughs team of junior Isaack Dowling, Abaoag, junior Arshak Berberyan and junior Nathan Gault-Crabb that grabbed fifth in the 200 medley relay (1.50.39).
Burroughs freshman Madeline Spangler was seventh in the 200 freestyle (2.15.16) and Burroughs freshman Isabelle Mucha was 10th in the same race (2.19.35).
Feldman finished in fourth place in the 200 freestyle (1.49.82) and sixth in the 100 breaststroke (1.05.12).
Morlock was fourth in the 100 freestyle (59.02) and ninth in the 50 freestyle (27.05).
Gault-Crabb was eighth in the 50 freestyle (24.14), while Andrei was eighth in the 100 butterfly (58.08) and eighth in the 100 freestyle (52.88).
Burroughs freshman Nicolai Lazarev nabbed eighth place in the 500 freestyle (5.34.48).
The Burbank team of sophomore Geneva Bethel, Simone Bethel, sophomore Grace Tomasek and sophomore Angelina Chavez finished sixth in the 200 freestyle relay (1.57.59).
Dowling, sophomore Arthur Eldridge, senior Scott Sauve and senior Daniel Marinero took seventh place in the 400 freestyle relay (3.46.92).
