Swimming

2023 CIF-SS Division II Championships: Daniel Li and Ava De Anda Break Meet Records

May 7, 2023

2023 CIF-SS Swimming and Diving Division II Championships

April 27-May 6, 2023
Riverside Aquatic Complex
SCY (25 Yards)
Results
2023 Champions:
- Girls: Esperanza
- Boys: El Segundo

Girls Finals Recap

After impressing in prelims, Poly Riverside freshman Ava De Anda continued to shine in finals, racking up two individual event wins–including a meet record. In the 100 free, she blazed a 48.85, breaking Alex Crisera‘s meet record by two-hundredths. It’s a huge personal best for De Anda, who before March’s Carlsbad Sectionals hadn’t broken 50 seconds. Over the course of this meet, she’s lowered her lifetime best from 49.84 to 48.85.

She picked up the win in the 200 freestyle, shattering her lifetime best with a 1:46.68. She wasted no time getting out to a lead, flipping at the 50 in 24.95, the only swimmer in the field sub-25. De Anda had the fastest split in the field on every 50 but the third, and won the race by 1.83 seconds ahead of 100 back champion Addie Gish. De Anda’s previous best was a 1:48.27 from March, making this a 1.59 second drop for her.

She continued dropping best times in the relays as well. She led off runner-up Poly Riverside’s 200 freestyle relay in 22.87, hacking seven-hundredths off her personal best with a 22.87.

De Anda was the only swimmer on the girls’ side of the meet to claim multiple individual victories, but she wasn’t the only freshman to win. Walnut freshman Angelica Mom earned the win in the 100 butterfly with a personal best 54.93. She shed four-hundredths from her previous best, which was 54.97 from December 2022.

Esperanza senior Jasmine Liu also had a busy day. She cracked a 29.16 50 breast split on Esperanza’s winning 200 medley relay to open the meet. Then, after finishing second to Natalie Walklett in a close race in the 200 IM (2:02.69 to 2:02.77), she won the 100 breaststroke–a rematch with Walklett–in a personal best 1:02.74. Walklett’s second place 1:03.19 was a personal best of her own.

Along with winning an individual event, Walklett and Gish both factored on two of Flintridge Prep’s winning relays. Walklett anchored the 200 freestyle relay in 22.98, stopping the clock at 1:35.69, while Gish led off in a personal best 23.87. Then, fresh off the 100 breast, Walklett anchored the 400 freestyle relay in 52.03, giving Flintridge Prep a winning time of 3:31.81. Gish led off that relay as well, starting the squad off with a 52.10.

Boys Finals Recap

In the final individual event of the meet, Daniel Li lowered the 100 breast meet record that he set in prelims. Li popped a 52.43, bringing the record sub-53 for the first time. The swim lowered his own mark by .69 seconds, undercutting the 53.12 he swam in prelims. Before the meet, the record stood at 53. 66 that Tona Zinn set in 2021. The swim is also a personal best for Li, bettering the 52.92 he swam for second at Winter Juniors – West.

	Li – 2023 CIF-SS Finals	Li – 2022 Speedo Winter Juniors	Li – 2023 CIF-SS Prelims
50	24.90	24.83	25.31
100	52.43 (27.53)	52.92 (28.09)	53.12 (27.81)

Looking at these three swims together shows how much improvement Li has made to the back half of his race. There’s a .56 second difference between his second 50 from Winter Juniors in December to now in finals.

Li started his meet with a win in the 200 IM, clocking a personal best 1:47.98. It’s another half-second drop for him as his previous best stood at 1:48.53, also from Winter Juniors. In addition to his individual success, Li threw down a 23.80 50 breast split en route to San Marino’s win in the 200 medley relay. He closed the meet with a 45.39 anchor in the 400 free relay, where the school finished second.

Andrew Teh and Nathan Kim both walked away with two individual event wins. Teh, a Cal Baptist commit, won both the 100 fly and the 100 back. In the 100 fly, he won with a personal best 48.97, dipping under 49 seconds for the first time in his career. Teh led the race from the start; he turned first at the 50 in 22.65, followed by Taisei Saito. Over the second 50, Teh extended his lead to win by five-tenths. It was a similar story in the 100 back in that Teh flipped first at the 50, though Nikkolai Carrillo gained on him on the back half to touch second in 50.17, while Teh took the win in 49.97. Teh also led off Crean Lutheran’s winning 200 freestyle relay, posting a personal best 21.26.

For his part, Kim picked up wins in the 100 and 200 freestyle. First, in the 200 free he dropped even more time from the personal best 1:37.83 that he swam in prelims. In finals, he stopped the clock at 1:37.12, taking an additional seven-tenths off his best time. He won by over a second, with 500 free champion Alexander Cole earning second in 1:38.44.

In the 100 free, Kim didn’t waste any time. He led at the first 50, flipping in 21.58 and powering home with a field best 23.01 second split to stop the clock at 44.59. That’s just under two-tenths off his personal best of 44.40 from December 2022. Last year, Kim finished second in both these events and this year, he’s climbed to the top of the podium.