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Luka Mijatovic, the super sophomore swimmer from Foothill, brought home two CIF State Swimming titles this past weekend.
The Falcons finished seventh as a team.
Mijatovic, who last year as a freshman was second in the 200 freestyle and won the 500 free, defended his 500 title and added the 200 free to his portfolio.
“Finishing second last year gave me some motivation this year,” Mijatovic said Saturday night. “I booked it at the beginning and went out almost a second faster than usual. That one hurt at the end.”
His winning time of 1:33.52 set a new California State Meet record and was an automatic All-American time.
Later in the day he defended his 500 free title, this time coming in at 4:11.91, winning the race by 10 seconds as well as breaking the previous National High School record by almost four seconds.
“I thought I would come in around that time,” said Mijatovic, who is competing in the U.S. Swimming Senior Nationals in just about two weeks. “But I sent it at the beginning as well. That one also hurt.”
While the individual titles are certainly sweet, he may have saved the best for last when he teamed with Ethan Wang, Kaden Wong and Aiden Yeo to finish third in the 400 free relay.
Wong started the team off with an opening split of 45.82. followed by a 45.93 from Wang. Yeo’s 47.45 kept the Falcons within striking distance and when Mijatovic turned a split of 42.90 the Falcons went from seventh to third.
“Luka’s split was insane,” Foothill coach Ali Smith said.
The final time of 3:02.10 was NISCA All-American Automatic time.
Here are the other highlights for Foothill swimmers.
Ethan Wang:
- 500 free: 4:27.74. Seventh overall in state, NISCA All American Automatic time.
- 400 free relay: Second swimmer, split a 45.93. Relay placed third overall, NISCA All American Automatic time.
- Prelims: 100 breaststroke: 56.72. Placed 26th overall in prelims (top 18 make finals)
Kaden Wong:
- 200 free: 1:39.89. 15th overall in state. Prelims swam a 1:39.25, was 12th going into finals.
- 400 free relay: First swimmer, split a 45.82. Relay placed third overall, NISCA All American Automatic time.
Aiden Yeo:
- 400 free relay: Third swimmer, split a 47.45. Relay placed third overall, NISCA All American Automatic time.
200 Medley Relay:
- William McConlogue (backstroke, 25.58 split), Mohamed Aboutaleb (breast, 26.94 split), Aryaa Bhatia (butterfly, 24.70 split), Quintin Hoffman (free, 21.68 split).
- Final time was 1:38.90, placed 35th overall in prelims.
Foothill now holds 5 total state records:
- 200 Free: Luka Mijatovic, 1:33.52 (2025).
- 500 Free: Luka Mijatovic, 4:11.91 (2025).
- 100 Back: Jonah Cooper, 46.62 (2018).
- 50 Free Paralympic Class 1: Addison Southern, 27.47 (2022).
- 100 Free Paralympic Class 1: Addison Southern, 59.95 (2022).
Amador swimming
The Dons got some great swims from both boys and girls swimmers at the CIF Meet.
The girls finished 24th overall, highlighted by a pair of swimmers placing in the 500 free.
Lillyana Caples was fifth in the 500 free, scoring an All-American Automatic time in prelims. Rylee Hutchinson was 15th in the 200 free and ninth in the 500 free in an All-American Consideration time.
Francesca Lin was 28th in the 500 free and teamed with Caples, Elayna Ling and Hutchinson to finish 14th in the 400 free relay.
The boys finished 65th overall, going through the final day without one of their best swimmers in Cade Vieler, who left Saturday for an international Grand Prix meet in Slovakia with his club team.
Kealan Tupper got 14th in the 200 individual medley and 28th in the 500 free. Oryan Liu was 22nd in the 200 IM.
Vieler was 19th in the 200 free and placed 18th in the 100 back in prelims before catching a Saturday flight.
The 400-free relay team of Liu, Ryan Wong, Tupper and Toby Huang was 17th.
A special thank you to Jay Montoya for three years of turning in Amador Valley swim information on the entire program — JV and varsity.
I hope a parent will step up next season for the Dons. Some big shoes to fill but it has been great for the Amador swimmers!
Amador boys’ lacrosse
The Dons ended the season finishing as runner-up in the NCS Division II tournament, falling to top-seeded University in the finals.
It was a great season for Amador as Owen Heck was tabbed as the Offensive Player of the Year in the Valley division of the East Bay Athletic League.
Hunter Selkow and Matteo Gervasoni were picked to the first team, with Henry Wanis and Bradyn MacIsaac were picked to the second team.
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. To contact him about his Pleasanton Preps column, email acesmag@aol.com.
