Sobrato coach Dave Letts can’t go long without being asked the same question by one of his swimmers at dual meets.
Coach, what’s the score?
So determined are the Sobrato boys to win a Santa Teresa Division championship after settling for second the past two seasons, they won’t accept falling behind.
“They want to make sure we’re ahead at all times,” Letts said. “They want to compete hard, and they want to win big.”
The Bulldogs, led by a competitive group of seniors who were freshmen when Sobrato won its last team title, have done that in spades this spring, handily winning their six league dual meets to go with a nonconference victory over Live Oak. They can wrap an undefeated season Friday against Del Mar. A win will give Sobrato a significant lead heading into the May 3-5 Santa Teresa Division Finals at Independence High School.
Letts said a league title “would mean a great deal to a lot of these seniors,” including Patrick Read, Adam Jasper, Gio Chau, John Patterson and Logan Bleeg, who starred on a Sobrato water polo team that earned the program’s first Central Coast Section playoff berth in fall. Water polo may be the seniors’ sport of choice, but to them, winning in the pool is all the same.
“They bring the same competitive spirit,” Letts said. “Pat’s worked his tail off; he’s a true competitor. … There’s just a handful of seniors that have worked hard and made this a great year.”
The Sobrato boys have much more on their to-do list than winning league. So far, only Read (100-yard butterfly) has qualified for the CCS Championships, scheduled for May 11-12 at the Santa Clara Swim Center. Letts expects his 200-medley and 200-free relays to make the cut like they did in 2011, and for Jasper to return to sectionals for a fourth year in a freestyle event or with at least one of the relays.
“He’s verbalized that he wants to make it in (four events),” Letts said. “He’s an intense competitor.”
During Sobrato’s last meet, a 129-35 victory over Mount Pleasant on April 5, the 200-medley relay (Bleeg, Chau, Read, Jasper) was about five seconds off the CCS qualifying standard (1:47.99), while the 200-free relay (Patterson, Read, Jasper, Connor Bleeg) missed the cut (1:35.39) by less than two ticks. At most, the Bulldogs have three chances left to advance – Friday’s meet at Sobrato High School, and the Santa Teresa Division time trials and championship heats.
Whereas a first-place team finish would be sweet, sending a large contingent to sectionals would be “just as special,” Letts said. Both are critical, however, considering SHS aquatics have a great chance to join the elite Mount Hamilton Division for 2013.
Switching conferences in the Blossom Valley Athletic League is especially difficult in coed sports, where schools’ boys and girls teams move simultaneously, and only when they are experiencing a high or low level of success.
While the Sobrato boys have cleaned up this year, coach Bonnie Ireland’s SHS girls have been equally impressive led by sophomore Czarina Isleta, who has qualified for CCS in three individual events (100 breaststroke, 100 fly, 200-individual medley) and the 400-free relay with Christiana Bridges, Gabrielle Smith and Lauren Akin. Bridges has also advanced in the 200 and 500 free.
After placing second in two of the last four seasons, the Lady Bulldogs (5-1) are poised to challenge for first at Santa Teresa Division Finals. They’ve picked a good year.
“I think we have a good chance just because we’re really strong in boys and girls,” said Letts, now in his third year at SHS. “The coaches like to see you’re strong in both. This year, we’ve shown that.”
