It is the ninth year for the swimming program at Oakwood and the Hawks have just completed a remarkable season. Highlights include increased participation for both boys and girls, school and league records and the first-ever CIF State qualification, with Lucas Tompkins competing for Oakwood in the CIF State Finals in the 100 breaststroke.
In that event in Clovis on May 16-17, Tompkins swam a 55.79 in the Friday prelims to qualify for the finals. On Saturday, he swam 56.17 to finish in 16th place among all swimmers in the state of California.
“The atmosphere at States was electric,” Tompkins said, “Behind the block was the loudest and most energized I’ve experienced and it was exciting to race at this really fast state meet, one of the fastest in the US. I was really happy with my swims at the meet and proud to represent Oakwood as our first CIF State swimming participant.
“I hope to return next year and continue to move up and hope some Oakwood teammates will be there, too. Our Oakwood swim team and school were really supportive in cheering me on as well.”
There were many accomplishments and records by the 10-person Oakwood team this year. The squad included six boys and four girls.
Tompkins, a junior, was joined by returnees in sophomores Porter Banks and Max Weltchek, along with three newcomers. The new swimmers were sophomores Davit Gasparyan and Victor Talankin, along with freshman Shayan Bahrainy.
The girls crew featured newcomers Allison Li, Avi Martinez, Ria Deshpande and Sthanika Rahool, all four of whom are freshmen.
“Oakwood swimmers are students first and foremost and have maintained high academic standing in the classroom and great effort in the pool,” said Jaime Tompkins, co-coach with Van Weltchek. “(We) are proud of the swimmers’ accomplishments in the pool, in the classroom, and as just kind and awesome people. We’ve had a blast coaching this team and are excited for all to return next year.”
In the Pacific Coast Athletic League championships at Salinas on May 2, both boys and girls teams notched their highest placements ever. The meet was contested in two different ways, with both league races (PCAL) and division races (the three PCAL Divisions: Gabilan, Mission and Cypress).
The boys finished 14th out of all 20 PCAL teams, tallying 136 points. That mark placed them ahead of schools such as Pacific Grove, Monterey and Watsonville. In the PCAL Mission Division standings, Oakwood finished in fifth place.
The Oakwood girls finished 16th among all PCAL teams with 96 points. Their total slotted them ahead of big schools such as Watsonville and Hollister. In the PCAL Mission Division standings, Oakwood finished in fifth place.
Individual stars were Tompkins and Martinez. Tompkins was the fifth-highest scorer among all boys and Martinez was sixth-highest among all girls, along with being the highest scoring freshman girl.
Martinez shined in the 100 freestyle, with a division win in 58.23, and in the 100 backstroke, with a division win in 1:05.24. In the 100 freestyle, those swims were both a PCAL Mission Division record and an Oakwood school record.
“One of my favorite swimming accomplishments this year was the chance to swim at PCALs and earning a second place overall in the 100 backstroke and first in our division,” Martinez said. “Getting to compete with other fast swimmers really pushed me to do my best in the race and hopefully next year I can shoot for first place.”
In division results, Li finished seventh in the 100 backstroke in 1:29.71 and eighth in the 100 freestyle in 1:14.37. Deshpande came in eighth in the 100 backstroke in 1:32.73 and 10th in the 50 freestyle in 37.28. The four girls competed as a team in both the 200 medley relay and the 200 freestyle relay and finished second in both races.
“My favorite accomplishment was shaving over 20 seconds off my 100 freestyle time,” Li said. “But this year was also my first time doing relays which were a lot of fun and is now the event I look forward to.”
Tompkins also won two events. He captured the 100 breaststroke in 56.94 for both the PCAL title and the Division title. In the 200 IM, he finished second in the PCAL and first in the PCAL Mission Division with a time of 1:59.27. Each was both a PCAL record and a Division record.
“Our Oakwood team had 10 swimmers this season and we all supported each other and had our best season yet,” Tompkins said, “Our team did great at the PCALs champs meet with our best placing and most points scored yet which was nice, including a really close relay race where we ended up in second even though we are one of the smaller teams.”
In division finishes, Talankin took third in the 200 freestyle in 1:58.20 and fourth in the 100 butterfly in 1:05.41. Weltcheck got third in the 200 IM in 2:18.03 and fourth in the 100 backstroke in 1:04.79. Banks nabbed 10th place in the 50 freestyle in 26.73. Gasparyan, Bahrainy and Rahool also competed well.
The boys’ quartet of Tompkins, Weltchek, Banks and Talankin placed second in the division in both the 200 medley relay and the 400 freestyle relay. In both cases, they demolished the old school record.
“(My favorite memory) was beating the four free relay record with Porter, Victor and Lucas,” Weltchek said.
Tompkins competed in the 200 medley and 100 breaststroke events at the CCS Finals Meet at Independence High in San Jose. He raced in both in the prelims on May 8 and moved on to the finals in his best event, the 100 breaststroke, where he clocked 56.61. In that event in the May 10 finals, he swam 56.47, sixth best in CCS.
“For CCS I was qualified in two events: the 200 yard Individual Medley and the 100 breaststroke,” Tompkins said. “In prelims I had a new personal best time and qualified for the ‘A’ final as the sixth seed overall. In finals I maintained that position and went a new personal best time.
“Being in the ‘A’ final was quite an experience with the announcers announcing each finalist individually behind the blocks and racing some really fast swimmers.”
That result and time qualified Tompkins for the CIF State meet, where he accomplished a historical first for Oakwood.
“The entire Oakwood swim team has been fantastic ambassadors for the sport of swimming while having a historic year and having a blast doing it,” co-coach Jaime Tompkins said. “The team gelled and supported each other all season long and they are excited to see what the future holds for these swimming Hawks.”
Thank you for this article, I’m happy to know that community pays attention to the teenager’s sport activity.
I just want to mention that full name of the Victor is “Victor Talankin”, and not “Victor Salankin” how it’s written in in the body of this article. I hope you will fix that in web version of Morgan Hill Times.
Thanks, Serge.