By Rick Assad
It was a clean sweep at all levels for the Burroughs High swim teams as the boys and girls varsity and boys and girls junior varsity emerged victorious versus city rival Burbank at a recent Pacific League swimming meet at the Bears’ pool.
The Bears’ varsity boys came away with a 126-44 thumping of the Bulldogs while the girls took out the Bulldogs 102-60.
At the junior varsity level, the boys collected a 108-45 victory over Burbank and the girls picked up a 115-38 decision.
In the 100 meter freestyle, Burroughs’ Matthew Rodriguez was first and was followed by teammate Lincoln Morrow for second place. Lucas Spratt took third for the Bears.
In the 200 freestyle, Burbank’s Michael Bakrgyan placed first while Burroughs’ August Burkhardt was second. Teammate Owen Morris finished third.
In the 50 freestyle, the Bears’ Roy Yuzna garnered first place and Burbank’s Arman Yegshatov was second. Daniel Menchaca placed third for the Bears.
In the 500 freestyle, it was another sweep for Burroughs as Esai Chatalyan grabbed first place, Landon Quiambao took second and Morris was third.
In the 100 butterfly, the Bears took the top three spots as Jack St. Pierre was first, Clyde Jordan took second place and Liam Wamester was third.
In the 100 backstroke, Burbank’s Lawrence Canestrelli placed first, while the Bears’ Rodriguez was second and teammate Caleb Faris garnered third.
In the 100 breaststroke, Burroughs reigned supreme as Yuzna was first, Logan Vescio was second and Eric Rodriguez took third place.
In the 200 medley relay, Burroughs, with Yuzna, Vescio, Wamester and St. Pierre, comprising the team, was first.
The Burbank foursome of Canestrelli, Matthew Van Peteghan, Jack Babelyan and Arman Yegshatov took second.
Burroughs placed third and the team included Evan Keller, Quiambao, Morrow and Spratt.
In the 200-freestyle medley, Burroughs (Wamester, Spratt, Morrow, St. Pierre) were victorious.
The Burroughs team of Menchaca, Vescio, Matthew Rodriguez and Quiambao grabbed second place. Burbank’s squad of Canestrelli, Van Peteghem, Babelyan and Yegshatov was third.
In the 400-freestyle relay (Yuzna, Wamester, Morrow and St. Pierre) were first, (Matthew Rodriguez, Jordan, Menchaca and Spratt) placed second and (Chatalyan, Morris, Vescio and Keller) finished third.
Nate Benton runs the Burbank swimming program and even with his teams falling short against its biggest foe, he’s proud of what the girls varsity accomplished.
“We are very proud of our girls varsity for earning their first winning season they’ve had in some time,” he said. “We are looking forward to finding a way to fill the holes left by the seniors who will graduate on that team at the end of this year.”
Benton added: “We have at least one varsity swimmer that will return next year, and we expect her to do big things with the team,” he noted.
Benton also had nice words about the boys varsity squad.
“Our boys varsity swam quite well but unfortunately it simply wasn’t in the cards for us against Burroughs this year,” he explained. “With 17 graduating seniors, we are happy that we have such a large and robust junior varsity team that are extremely talented.”
Benton also talked about Burbank hopefully getting its pool ready for use.
“We are excited beyond measure to remove the biggest obstacle that our team has had in their progress: a home pool,” he stated. “With our pool opening as soon as next month, we hope our team will continue to grow in size and talent the way it has the last couple of years.”
In varsity girls action, in the 100 freestyle, the Bears’ Lauren Chaparro took first and Burbank’s Sophia Aldana nabbed second. Anna Henri of Burroughs finished third.
In the 100 butterfly, Burbank’s Marianna Maltseva placed first, Burroughs’ Sonia Donnell snared second place and Burbank’s Melanie Hayrapetian was third.
In the 200 freestyle, the Bears’ Leah Hess placed first while teammate Jazzy Woods grabbed second. Burbank’s Anna Avetisyan finished third.
In the 50 freestyle, the Bears’ Bella Matossian nabbed first place and Maltseva took second. Hess grabbed third place.
In the 200 individual medley, it was 1-2-3 for the Bears as Julienne Beil was first, Henri placed second and Donnell took third.
In the 500 freestyle, Burbank’s Iliana Brio was first and Burroughs’ Madison Stakely was second while Hayrapetian placed third.
In the 100 backstroke, Beil was first, Aldana was second and her teammate, Areni Aghajani finished in third place.
In the 100 breaststroke, Brio was first, the Bears’ Tyler Timman was second and Bonnie Kretzmann took third place for Burroughs.
In the 200 medley relay, the Bears team of Beil, Timman, Chaparro and Matossian was first.
Burbank’s foursome of Aghajani, Brio, Maltseva and Aldana was second and the team of Trinity Hager, Kretzmann, Gwen Hager and Gio Martinez nabbed third place.
In the 200-freestyle medley, the Bears’ team of Chaparro, Henri, Derika Berenguer and Matossian placed first. Second place went to Burbank’s Aldana, Ahgajani, Brio and Maltseva.
The Bears took third place and included Donnell, Hess. Gwen Hager and Abby Wasilauski.
In the 400-freestyle relay, Chaparro, Henri, Matossian and Beil were first. The second-place team consisted of Berenguer, Gwen Hager, Wasilauski and Hess. Woods, Trinity Hager, Aniana Advincula and Martinez grabbed third.
