Swimming

Clovis West Girls, Clovis North Boys Defend CIF Central Section Division I Titles

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By Riley Overend on SwimSwam

CIF Central Section Division I Championships

  • May 1-4, 2024
  • Clovis West High School
    • Fresno, Calif.
  • SCY (25 yards)
  • PDF results

Girls Team Scores

  1. Clovis West – 415
  2. Clovis North – 316
  3. Liberty – 253
  4. Buchanan – 191
  5. San Luis Obispo – 154

Five individual champions lifted the powerhouse Clovis West girls to their 30th CIF Central section title in program history at the Division I Championships last weekend in Fresno.

Clovis West sophomores Audrey Hill and Sophia Oka-Fedder contributed to the 200 medley relay (1:42.34) and 400 freestyle relay (3:27.93) that both broke meet records. Hill clocked a 24.42 butterfly split on the 200 medley relay and anchored the 400 free relay in 50.64 while Oka-Fedder posted a 23.47 free split on the 200 medley relay and 50.70 split on the 400 free relay. The Clovis West girls broke their own meet record in the 200 medley relay from last year (1:44.19) and their own meet record in the 400 free relay from 2018 (3:29.57).

Hill and Oka-Fedder each collected two individual titles apiece in addition to their relay contributions. Hill triumphed in the 50 free (23.62) and 100 fly (54.76) after winning the 100 free as a freshman. She dropped exactly two tenths of a second off her previous-best 50 free time from last April while coming within half a second of her personal-best 100 fly time from February (54.29). Hill is seeded 10th on the psych sheets for this weekend’s CIF State Championships.

Oka-Fedder defended her 200 IM title in 2:03.97 and added another individual crown in the 100 free (51.32). She dropped almost a tenth in the 100 free while just missing her personal-best 200 IM time (2:03.95) from December. Oka-Fedder is seeded 14th in the 200 IM and 21st in the 100 free for the CIF State Championships this weekend.

Clovis West senior Hannah Marinovich picked up an impressive victory in the 100 breaststroke (1:01.49), outdueling Clovis North junior Ellie Fitzgerald (1:02.81) in the process. Marinovich was a couple tenths shy of her own meet record from last year (1:01.25). The Tennessee commit has been as fast as 1:00.74 during her runner-up finish at CIF States last year. She’s seeded 4th this year behind a pair of freshmen (Bianca Nwaizu and Mia Sun).

Marinovich also split 27.70 on the breast leg of Clovis West’s record-breaking 200 medley relay that is seeded 2nd at CIF States behind only Santa Margarita (1:40.07), which will be missing its top swimmer in Teagan O’Dell. She was joined by her younger sister, sophomore Hailey Marinovich, who kicked off the 200 medley relay with a 26.75 backstroke leadoff.

The Clovis West girls got another individual title courtesy of senior Avery Easterling, who claimed the 200 free crown in 1:51.53. The Cal Baptist commit took a couple tenths off his previous-best 1:51.80 from last month. Easterling also led off her squad’s record-breaking 400 free relay in 53.17 after blazing a personal-best 52.89 in prelims.

Despite all of Clovis West’s wins, Clovis North earned a runner-up finish less than 100 points back. Clovis North was led by freshman Rowyn Wilber, a double winner in the 500 free (4:54.04) and 100 backstroke (55.45). Both marked lifetime bests as Wilber dropped .44 seconds in the 500 free from December and .47 seconds in the 100 back from March. She’s seeded 5th in the 500 free and 8th in the 100 back at CIF States this weekend.

Liberty won the 200 free relay in 1:36.80 courtesy of sophomore Sophia Munoz-Rodriguez (24.05), sophomore Gracie Dean (23.84), senior Rylie Moxham (24.91), and sophomore Paige Boywer (24.00).

Boys Recap

Team Scores

  1. Clovis North – 410
  2. San Luis Obispo – 272
  3. Clovis West – 271
  4. Buchanan – 243.5
  5. Arroyo Grande – 182

The Clovis North boys also defended their Central section title behind some dominant showings from sophomore Ethan Linville and junior Nicola Saito.

Linville cruised to the 500 free victory in 4:26.84, shaving more than half a second off his previous-best 4:27.47 from last month. He’s now within a few seconds of a 31-year-old meet record set by Chris Rumley back in 1993. Linville also placed 1st in the 200 free (1:38.28), lowering his previous-best 1:38.56 from last month. He showed off his versatility by anchoring Clovis North’s victorious 200 medley relay (1:34.27) with a 21.07 free split. Linville placed 2nd in 500 free (4:33.45) and 3rd in the 200 free (1:40.91) at this meet as a freshman. He is seeded 6th in the 500 free and 12th in the 200 free at this weekend’s CIF State Championships.

Saito secured wins in the 200 IM (1:52.52) and 100 back (51.78). He dropped almost half a second in the 200 IM off his previous-best 1:53.00 from last month while coming up just a tenth short of his best 100 back time from last month (51.65). Saito also led off Clovis North’s winning 200 medley relay with a 24.26 backstroke leg, slightly off his 24.19 from prelims. He placed 3rd in 200 IM (1:55.51) and 4th in 100 back (53.53) at this meet last year as a sophomore.

The battle for 2nd place in the team standings was tight as San Luis Obispo (272) earned a runner-up finish just one point ahead of Clovis West (271). Senior Matthew Perje came up clutch for San Luis Obispo, taking the 50 free title (20.89) to go along with a runner-up finish in the 100 free (46.33). He was just a few hundredths off his best 50 free time from last month (20.86), and he went on to blaze a 20.20 anchor on San Luis Obispo’s 3rd-place 200 free relay. Perje’s best 100 free time is also from last month at 45.71, which he approached in prelims with his top-seeded time of 45.96.

Clovis West sophomores Tobin Reed and Stanley Oka powered their squad to a 3rd-place finish. Reed prevailed in the 100 free (46.27) just a blink ahead of Perje after placing 7th in this event last year as a freshman. He also earned a runner-up finish in the 200 free (1:39.82), knocking more than two seconds off his best time from last month (1:41.85). Reed wrapped up his meet with a 45.89 leadoff on Clovis West’s winning 400 free relay (3:05.30).

Oka won the 100 fly in 49.88, placed 3rd in the 50 free with a personal-best 21.19, and anchored Clovis West’s triumphant 400 free relay in 45.76. He also anchored the 200 free relay in 20.54, but Clovis West (1:24.94) came up just a few hundredths short of Clovis North (1:24.91) in its comeback attempt. Last year as a freshman, Oka placed 2nd in both the 100 fly (49.92) and the 100 free (46.74) at this meet.

The other individual Central section champion among the boys was Kingsburg sophomore Lucas Huckabay in the 100 breast (56.17). He won by the slimmest of margins ahead of Clovis North junior Winston Liang (56.18). Huckabay came into the meet with a lifetime best of 57.11 from CIF State prelims last May before registering a personal-best 56.01 in prelims. He also placed 4th in 50 free (21.21) after posting a personal-best 21.05 in prelims. Huckabay won the Division II Central title in the 50 free last year as a freshman (21.70).

SwimSwam: Clovis West Girls, Clovis North Boys Defend CIF Central Section Division I Titles

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