5 - 0 CPS Swim is on the Trophy Hunt
1972 Miami Dolphins, the 1996 Chicago Bulls, the 1998 New York Yankees, and the 2022 CPS swim team. Now, you might be wondering, what do all of these teams have in common? Well, they are all sports teams, but more importantly, they all completely dominated their league over the course of a single season.
Just last week, the CPS swim team capped off an undefeated regular season, destroying their league and going 5 - 0 at league meets. The only team close to them is Head Royce, who went 4 - 1 on the season. However, CPS beat Head Royce by over fifty points during their meet last week.
With the regular season coming to a close, the team looks forward to what will surely be some exciting postseason contests, but before we look ahead, let us first examine how the team has managed to accrue as much success as they have been able to so far this season.
Coming off a two-year hiatus caused by COVID and a lack of a coach, expectations were low. Yet, during the team's first few meets of the season, they quickly asserted themselves at the top of their league. Now, good coaching can go a long way to help a team, but I want to focus on the athletes who have made this season possible.
Probably the first person that people think of when they consider College Prep’s swim team is Sydney Griscavage. Sydney committed to Cal for swimming in her junior year, and she wins all of her races in league meets with ease. She is currently ranked 3rd in all of NCS in terms of points this season, and she is only 10 points back from 1st place. Her leadership and her speed have been driving forces in the team's success this season.
However, one athlete cannot carry an entire swim team on their own, and the CPS swim team has a lot of athletes supporting Sydney's skills. Seniors Devin Hou, Owen Jung, and David Medina, paired with junior Zach Zener, have been leading the men's team this year with consistent victories across various disciplines, and Mollie Appl, Paige Arnold, and Sydney have been the powerhouses behind a very strong and deep women's roster.
Now that we have acknowledged some of the athletes that have gotten CPS this far, it's time to look at what comes next. In just under a week, on April 30th, is the BAC (Bay Area Conference) championship meet, or league championships. In this meet, the men's team will be looking to win their first league championship since 2017, and the women's team is looking to defend their 2019 title. Seeing as Prep has won all of their league meets so far this year, it is highly likely that they will shortly be coming home with two BAC trophies.
But the swim team will not be satisfied with a mere BAC victory. After BAC comes NCS, standing for North Coast Sectionals, a meet where all of the best swimmers from Northern California compete on behalf of their schools. However, entire teams do not qualify for NCS, so athletes have to qualify individually. A few members of the CPS team have already qualified, and more are sure to be added to the qualifying list in the coming weeks.
The last NCS was held in 2019 and was won by Campolindo (men) and Monte Vista (women), which was no surprise as those two teams had been dominating NCS swim for the prior 15 years. However, it has been three years since that match was held, and it is safe to assume that things have been shaken up since then. CPS sent a delegation from their women's team to NCS in 2019, where they placed 25th.
Hopes are high for a much better showing at NCS this year, and rankings reflect that, as CPS is currently ranked 10th in NCS. However, the door is open for Prep to upset and place much higher than 10th. College Prep’s team has nothing to lose and no reputation to defend going into NCS, which can be a dangerous combination, so look out for some exciting swim action soon!
Avi Paulson is the sports editor for the College Prep Radar. You can reach him at apaulson@thecollegepreparatoryschool.org.