Live Oak
’s brother-sister duo of Ryan and Ronni Gautschi was only half
represented at the Central Coast Section Swimming Championships at
Stanford’s Avery Aquatic Center on Saturday. The Shope sibling act
was there in full force. Stephen Shope’s seventh-place finish in
the 1-meter diving event led a t
rio of Acorn divers which garnered 20 of Live Oak’s 28 team
points in the boys’ competition. His sister Laura matched him with
a seventh place of her own in the girls’ 100-yard breaststroke.
Both were the highest individual finishes by any Acorn diver or
swimmer.
Live Oak’s brother-sister duo of Ryan and Ronni Gautschi was only half represented at the Central Coast Section Swimming Championships at Stanford’s Avery Aquatic Center on Saturday.
The Shope sibling act was there in full force.
Stephen Shope’s seventh-place finish in the 1-meter diving event led a trio of Acorn divers which garnered 20 of Live Oak’s 28 team points in the boys’ competition. His sister Laura matched him with a seventh place of her own in the girls’ 100-yard breaststroke.
Both were the highest individual finishes by any Acorn diver or swimmer.
Stephen Shope scored a finals total of 321.50 in an event won by Bryan Dunmire of Wilcox (454.90). The senior was joined in the top 20 by Acorns Lee Bell (311.25) and Ferry Unger (206.15).
The strong showing by Live Oak divers was particularly impressive given that most of the top competition at CCS dives year-round, said Acorn diving coach Jeff Olivetti.
“My boys only dive from February to March,” he said.
Stephen Shope said his best dive at the competition was his second – a forward 1 1/2 somersault with a twist.
“That one felt pretty good,” he said.
Olivetti was especially proud of the showing by German transfer student Unger, who only took up diving this season.
“To be Top 18 in CCS is quite an accomplishment for someone who only started diving in February,” Olivetti said.
Laura Shope’s 1:07.44 in the 100-yard breast preliminaries on Friday was actually faster than either of sixth-place finisher Jennifer Gong of Presentation’s two times. That prelim time by Shope was also just two-tenths of a second off the All-American consideration mark in the event – 1:07.24.
But her 1:07.98 in the final wasn’t enough to edge her past Gong (1:07.67) for a medal spot.
While the Acorns’ versatile Ryan Gautschi swam four races at CCS, his sister Ronni was absent due to illness despite qualifying in several events.
Ryan Gautschi’s best finish was a 12th in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:01.96. The senior also was part of a 16th-place 200 yard medley relay team (1:44.39) that also included Cameron Peachey, Dennis Lowe and Shea Coleman.
Hollister’s Clarion University-bound Denise Simens was easily the highest placer among local swimmers, taking second in the girls’ 100-yard breaststroke with an All-America qualifying time of 1:05.55.
Gilroy’s Santiago Maciel made the consolation finals in two events, finishing 12th in the 200-yard IM (2:01.81) and 10th in the 100-yard butterfly (54.30).
Coleman was 17th (55.27) for Live Oak in the latter event.
As a team, Live Oak finished 19th in the boys’ competition with 28 points, and 20th in the girls’ draw with 20 points.
