By Riley Overend on SwimSwam
2024 Mission League Championships
- April 16-18, 2024
- Robinson Family Aquatics Complex
- Encino, California
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results on MeetMobile: “2024 Mission League HS Championship”
Team Scores
Boys
- Loyola – 780.5
- Harvard-Westlake – 641
- Notre Dame – 315
- Crespi – 233
- Sierra Canyon – 219
Girls
- Harvard-Westlake – 708
- Marlborough – 570
- Notre Dame – 373
- Louisville – 267
- Immaculate Heart – 252
Harvard-Westlake senior Lily Neumann swept the 50-yard freestyle (23.76) and 100 free (52.06) to lead her squad to the Mission League title earlier this month in Encino, California.
Neumann, a Yale commit, owns season-best times in the 50 free (23.49) and 100 free (51.20) that rank among the top 10 in the state this season. Her lifetime bests (23.11/48.77) are both from 2022.
The Harvard-Westlake girls totaled 708 points to hold off Marlborough (570), who were led by a pair of double winners in sophomores Eva Vass and Abby Lee. Vass dominated the distance freestyle events with winning times of 1:54.08 in the 200 free and 5:07.84 in the 500 free. Her 200 free victory snapped a two-year plateau in the event as she lowered her previous-best 1:54.30 from March of 2022. Vass was about a second off her best 500 free time from November (5:06.25), moving up to 16th in the state this season.
Lee claimed individual crowns in the 200 IM (2:08.06) and 100 breast (1:04.76), not far off her best times from earlier this month. Her best 100 breast time (1:04.50) ranks 10th in the state this season.
Third-place Notre Dame boasted the other two individual winners among the varsity girls. Notre Dame senior Emily Waters triumphed in the 100 fly (1:01.07) while freshman Emily Collins dropped more than a second in the 100 back to earn the victory in 1:00.12.
On the boys side, Loyola junior Ray Liu cruised to victory in the 200 IM (1:51.24) to lead his team to another Mission League crown with 780.5 points ahead of Harvard-Westlake’s 641. Liu, who placed 6th at the 2023 CIF State Championships (1:49.49) last May, now ranks 7th in the state this season. He recently ripped a personal-best 1:46.90 at a club meet last month.
Liu’s Loyola teammate, junior Edward Kim, also secured an individual title with a 100 fly victory in 50.42. The Air Force commit owns a lifetime best of 49.19 from last May’s CIF State Championships, where he made the B-final and placed 16th. Kim’s season-best 49.66 in the 100 fly ranks 10th in the state this season.
Runner-up Harvard-Westlake got impressive performances out of senior Christopher Mo and sophomore Aidan Romain. Mo, a University of Chicago commit, took the 500 free title in 4:35.79, just a few tenths off his season-best mark that ranks 14th in the state. His lifetime best sits at 4:29.22 from November. Romain recorded a new personal best en route to the 100 free win in 47.58, slicing almost two tenths of a second off his previous-best 47.75 from last month.
The only double winner among the boys was Notre Dame junior Darrel Shin, who delivered victories in the 50 free (21.59) and 100 breast (56.71). He blasted a personal-best 50 free time of 21.26 in prelims, lowering his previous-best 21.57 from December by more than three tenths. In the 100 breast, he dropped more than half a second off his previous-best 57.23 from December to rank 13th in the state this season.
Shin’s Notre Dame teammate, senior Christian Castro, emerged victorious in the 200 free with a time of 1:44.67. The UMBC commit reached the wall a couple seconds behind his personal-best 1:42.53 from December.
The other individual champion among the boys was Bishop Alemany junior Nikita Cutidioc, who blasted a personal-best 52.93 in the 100 back. He shed a couple tenths off his previous-best 53.18 from December.
The high school postseason continues with sectional competition next week before the CIF State Championships take place from May 9-11 at the Clovis Olympic Swim Complex.
SwimSwam: Harvard-Westlake Girls, Loyola Boys Capture 2024 Mission League Swimming Crowns
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