Bulldogs outnumbered by Haybalers in TCAL swim meet
Morgan Hill – In each Tri-County Athletic League swim meet, the new, young Sobrato Bulldog team faces an uphill battle. With no seniors on the team, small numbers and mostly inexperienced swimmers, coach Lynn Gautschi and the Bulldogs are working on building swimming skills and improving.
“My team is very, very new,” said Gautschi. “All in all they’re coming together. My team, some of them are still learning how to do flip turns and learning how to breathe.”
On Friday, the Bulldogs welcomed the San Benito Haybalers to the Sobrato pool for a TCAL meet. The Bulldogs boys squad fell to the Haybalers (4-0 TCAL), 121-20, and the Bulldogs’ girls team fell to the Haybalers (3-1 TCAL), 116-44.
“I was shocked at how small their (Sobrato’s) team is,” said San Benito girls’ coach Stephanie Pursley. “There were a couple of good races. Our team was mostly working for CCS qualifying times.”
For the Sobrato girls team, the 200 yard freestyle relay team of Katelyn Smith, Amelia Greenland, Allie Finley and Alissa Davi earned a first place finish with a time of 1:56.43. Smith also finished first in the 200 yard freestyle individual race (2:06.22) and captured second place in the 100 yard freestyle (58.86). Taylor Windgasson also had a first place finish, completing the 200 IM in 2:27.15. Windgasson also had a second place finish in the 100 yard backstroke (1:10.33) Finley had a second place finish in the 50 yard freestyle (28.83 seconds). Greenland earned a third place finish in the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 1:25.16.
The San Benito girls team had several individual swimmers qualify for the Central Coast Section meet, along with the 400 yard freestyle relay team of Stephanie Rodriguez, Katie Buzzetta, Lacey Larson and Shelli Reid. The Haybalers have had 10 girls qualify for CCS this season.
For the Bulldogs boys team, Sky Sandberg won the 50 yard freestyle race with a time of 24.03 seconds.
“Sky swam some awesome events,” said Gautschi. “He did really good.”
Standout freshman athlete, Lance Wolfsmith also swam well for Sobrato, swimming in some of the sprinting events. He finished third in the 100 yard freestyle, reaching the finish line in 1:02.57. Wolfsmith finished fourth in the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 28.05 seconds.
“Lance did a good job trying out some of the sprinting events,” added Gautschi.
David Thorsrud had a second place finish for the Bulldogs in the 200 yard freestyle (2:23.18) and finished fourth in the 100 yard breaststroke (1:14.84).
The Bulldogs return to the pool in Salinas on Friday when they take on the North Salinas Vikings at 3:30pm
