The Morgan Hill Splash team competed in the summer championship meet over the weekend, placing fourth of five teams.
Fourth place represents a bump from the previous years and also underscores a list of improvements among the Morgan Hill swimmers.
“We’ve come a long way from first meet where lost by more than 400 points,” said Splash coach Mike Cobarrubias.
Morgan Hill brought more than 150 swimmers to compete against teams from around the South Bay Area in the Valley Aquatic League championships.
More than 600 swimmers competed in the championships.
The Splash have a combination of veterans and swimmers new to competition, particularly in a championship race.
Morgan Hill held its own with 88 swimmers and 10 relays posting time improvements during the competition.
The challenge Cobarrubias put to his team was to show improvement, even if it was a small one.
“We swam fast as a team and we got fourth. Our goal was not to get last, so that was exciting to get fourth,” Cobarrubias said.
Some times were as little as just a few tenths of a second to more than 30. That was accomplished by Rory Collier who dropped 33 seconds from his seed time to his final time in the 6U boys 25 butterfly. He took 12th with a 42.46.
Collier’s best race came in the 25 freesytle where he took 10th with a time of 35.21, a 6-second improvement from his qualifying time.
Also showing a dramatic drop was Jared Law, who shaved 19 seconds to take fifth place in the 13/14 boys 50 butterfly with a time of 33.60.
The top 10 finishes earned points for the Splash, with first place earning 11 points.
Morgan Hill boasted two winners, who also shaved times in their respective races.
Janice Kim took first in the 50 breasttroke in the girls 15-18 division. She swam 36.72, taking about a half-second off her time. She also seventh in the 100 IM with a time of 1:16.25, another half-second improvement over her seed time.
In the 6U division, Logan Smith won the 25 freestyle with a time of 19.98, bettering his seed time of 20.55.
Morgan Hill also boasted four individuals who took second places, led by Nicholas Manalang in the 7/8-year-old division, who swam a pair of second places with improvements in time. He took second in the 25 backstroke with a time of 22.46 and the 50 freestyle with a time of 37.74.
Also placing second was Annie Ly, 9, in the 25 freestyle, Jessica Reagan, 6, in the 25 breaststroke and Kyle Edgar, 14, in the 50 butterfly.
Morgan Hill also had five of its 10 relay teams that dropped time take second place finishes, but the most dramatic drop in time came from the 13/14 boys 200 medley relay that shaved the most time.
The team of Justin Yu 13, John Kapaku 14, Kyle Edgar 14, and Jared Law 13 took seven seconds off their time to finish in 2:18.27, which put them in fourth place.
Cobarrubias said he was pleased overall with the effort from everyone, and said the point of this league is not so much the placements but whether the swimmers had a positive experience.
“We like having fun,” Cobarrubias said. “That’s what it’s all about – having fun.”
The Splash will take a break from competition for a couple weeks as it prepares for the winter season, which begins Aug. 26.
Follow Cheeto Barrera on Twitter @MHTCheeto
