After a few down years in a row and the distraction of pool
construction, the Live Oak High swimming program had insult added
to injury last season. In the first year of the Tri-County Athletic
League, with the league swimming championships being held at the
new Live Oak pool, the Acorn girls swim team lost the league title
due to a sscoring oversight.
After a few down years in a row and the distraction of pool construction, the Live Oak High swimming program had insult added to injury last season.
In the first year of the Tri-County Athletic League, with the league swimming championships being held at the new Live Oak pool, the Acorn girls swim team lost the league title due to a sscoring oversight.
This season, the Acorn girls and boys have left nothing to chance, rolling through the league competition with aplomb.
And, during Saturday’s TCAL Swimming Championships at Live Oak, don’t bet on any kind of technicality keeping both teams from winning league titles.
Dominance has returned to the storied Live Oak swim program.
“This year has been about getting back on top — in both swimming and water polo,” Acorn swim coach Mack Haines said. “It’s been about being champion and we expect to be that.”
Haines said he didn’t necessarily expect that this year’s swim teams could return to the top of the league standings in such a dominant manner. But he said the powerful local club swimming programs have had a great influence on the high school’s success.
“It’s hard to stay up on top year after year, and to be honest I thought it would take longer,” Haines said. “But our sophomores and juniors swam better than I thought. That’s a real credit to USA swim team coaches Bill Thompson and Edward Toately.”
Led by seniors David Dunn and Travis Aviles, juniors Ryan Gautschi and Dennis Lowe, sophomores Justin Short and Shea Coleman, and freshman Cameron Peachy on the boys side, and senior Susan Suchomel and a spate of talented underclassmen in sophomores Ronni Gautschi, Laura Melroy, Amy Marshall and Brianna Sennert, and freshman Laura Shope on the girls side, Live Oak is loaded.
But Haines said Saturday’s league finals should be exciting, with plenty of competitive swimmers from Gilroy and Hollister pushing the host Acorns in most of the events.
“I can say we’re the favorite to win it but all it takes is one false start and one DQ and it’s a whole new ballgame,” Haines said. “Although we won all the dual meets, Gilroy and Hollister were right there. Except for David Dunn’s events, I don’t think there’s going to be any events that won’t be competitive.”
The TCAL champion-ships get started at 10 a.m. at Live Oak High.
“It’s nice to be able to compete for a league championship again,” Haines said. “That’s not to say we’re going back to the old days — I think the days of 10 years in a row in water polo or swimming where Live Oak dominates are over. But that means you appreciate the ones you get more.”
Haines said one measure of this year’s teams’ dominance has been the number of Acorn swimmers who have already qualified by time for the Central Coast Section finals.
Both the boys and girls teams have qualified four different swimmers in six individual events, and teams in all three relay events, for CCS.
On the boys side, Dunn has qualified in the 200 individual medley and the 100 butterfly, Short has qualified in the 200 freestyle and the 500 freestyle, Gautschi has qualified in the 100 breaststroke, and Aviles has qualified in the 50 freestyle. Aviles is also expected to qualify in the 100 freestyle, and Peachy is close to qualifying in the 100 backstroke.
On the girls side, Suchomel has qualified in the 100 butterfly, Melroy has qualified in the 200 freestyle and the 500 freestyle, Gautschi has qualified in the 200 individual medley, and Shope has qualified in the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle. Gautschi is also expected to qualify in the 100 backstroke, and Suchomel has a shot at qualifying in the 100 breaststroke.
Other top swimmers to watch at the TCAL swimming finals from other league schools include Gilroy’s Lee Walton, Santiago Maciel, Scott Castruita, Kim Spaulding, Lindsay Been, Lourella Palao, and AJ Watkins, Hollister’s Christian Smith, David Smith, Curtis Blane, Rob Shattuck, Juliana Sih, and Stacy Lass, North Salinas’ Jenny Santos, Notre Dame’s Michelle Nguyen.
