By Jordan Hum | Copy Editor
The Gabrielino High School swim team heads over to Schurr High School to participate in the Almont League finals today at 2 pm. The Eagles will compete against Schurr, Mark Keppel, Bell Gardens, Montebello, San Gabriel, and Alhambra High Schools. Scores were unavailable at press time.
Sophomore Sarah Banh has high expectations for herself at finals.
“I’m expecting to have my best performance of the season,” stated Sarah, “but I’m not going to forget to have fun in the process.”
The Almont League Preliminaries took place two days ago as the predecessor to the league finals. The meet was also held at Schurr. Scores were unavailable at press time.
On April 15 and 16, the Eagles participated in the Mt. Sac Meet of Champions at Mt. San Antonio College where a multitude of high schools from all over southern California competed.
Some key standouts in the meet were senior Jason Kong, who finished sixth out of 125 swimmers in the boys 50 free varsity final event, and freshman Kianna Thai, who finished 14th out of 78 in the girls 100 breast varsity final event. Gabrielino finalists were senior captains Michael Tang and Darren Banh, Kong, senior Jerrison Wong, sophomore Ethan Yun, and Thai.
“It was really cool to see so many different schools from all over the state,” said Darren, who finished 21st out of 85 in the boys 100 fly varsity final event. “We don’t really get to see that during league, so it was good to see what’s out there.”
On April 13, Gabrielino competed in their last league meet of the year against Bell Gardens. Being that it was the last league meet, it was dubbed the “senior meet,” as the seniors of the team were celebrated with extra fanfare.
A large number of students came with posters and gifts to support their fellow classmates as they competed at their home pool, Smith Park, for the last time.
Gabrielino won in a landslide, with the girls winning, 107-23, and the boys winning, 134-91.
Some stand-out performers included seniors Joseph Lee and Shannon Rubio, who both won the 50 free, Darren and senior captain Jolie Ngo, who won the 100 free, and Tang, who won the boys 200 individual medley.
The meet wrapped up a successful league season, in which the boys won, 5-1, and the girls won, 4-2. Both teams lost to Mark Keppel, who went on to win league, with the girls’ only other loss going to Schurr.
“I loved having everyone together because last year everyone was split,” said senior captain Josephine Chia. “Meeting the underclassmen was so special because I didn’t get to do it last year.”
On March 30, the Eagles faced Montebello in a league meet at Smith Park. The girls won, 116-33, and the boys won, 131-21.
