After a long, suspense-filled Valley Swim Association Championship meet Saturday that saw 13 records broken, the Blackhawk Hox and the Crow Canyon Sea Lions ended as champs in a tie with 2,428 points each. Round Hill finished with a strong third about 120 points behind.
The 1,500 swimmers began arriving at Chabot College in Hayward before 6 a.m. The quiet, park-like setting was soon a temporary encampment, filled with umbrellas, chairs, displays of team colors, and youthful anticipation.
For the past few years, the Valley Swim Association (VSA), which is comprised of nine swim teams from the Alamo-Danville-San Ramon area, has been the premier recreational swim league in Contra Costa County. In 2004 and 2005 the county swim champions were VSA teams, and last year the three highest scoring teams at the County Championship meet all hailed from the VSA. Furthermore, this season, those three teams – Crow Canyon Sea Lions, Blackhawk Hox, Round Hill Heat – all swam tight dual meets against each other.
Suspense built throughout the day. It took only four events before the first of what would be 13 new meet records was set during the course of a very long day. That race, the 9-10 boys 100 yard IM was won by Dillon Williams of Crow Canyon. The stage was set; throughout the rest of the day, records fell as swimmers from Crow Canyon, Blackhawk and Round Hill, along with the other VSA teams – Sycamore Stingrays, Danville Sea Devils, Del Amigo Dolphins, San Ramon Aquacats, Club Sport of San Ramon Marlins, and the Diablo Sharks – battled it out in the Chabot pool.
At the end of the breaststroke events, with slightly more than half of the meet finished, Crow Canyon clung to a slim lead over Round Hill, with Blackhawk in a solid third place. After backstroke, Crow Canyon had extended its lead to more than 140 points over Blackhawk, who had edged above Round Hill. By the end of the butterfly events, Blackhawk would still be trailing Crow Canyon, but by chopping off more than 100 points from the lead, trailed by a mere 36 points.
All that remained were the freestyle relays. Of the 12 freestyle relay events, Blackhawk won six and Crow Canyon won five. But with the top 16 places scoring and each team able to score points for second relays, it was impossible to predict the outcome.
As teams waited by the pool, officials huddled over the computer, churning out results. The results, tabulated, checked, and checked again, were finally ready. Reactions ranging from jubilation to disbelief swept over the crowd, which finally made its way to the parking lot after a long day of swim races.
Moving up to fourth place and entering the A Division for the first time were the Diablo Sharks, who finished 200 points ahead of fifth place Del Amigo. Rounding out the standings were San Ramon (sixth), Danville (seventh), Sycamore (eighth), and Club Sport (ninth). Club Sport was awarded the most improved team, adding more than 200 points to their 2005 total.
Beside Dillon Williams’ record in the 100 IM, other records were set by Crow Canyon were: Daniella Orlandi (9-10 fly), Byron Gruendl (13-14 free), and Dillon Williams again (9-10 fly). Blackhawk record setters were Makenna Turner (6 & under fly), Georgi Cappelletti (15-18 free), Forrest White (7-8 back), Noah Sol (7-8 breast), David Morgan (9-10 free), and Steven Stumph (11-12 IM). Charlotte Meier of Del Amigo set the 6 & under back record, Natalie Knowles of Diablo set the 7-8 back record, and Christina Ray of Round Hill set the 11-12 free record.
High Point awards were given to the following swimmers who placed first in two of their individual events: 6 & under girl – Charlotte Meier (Del Amigo), 6 & under boy Sean Gerberich (Blackhawk), 7/8 girl(s) Abigail Miller (Blackhawk) and Natalie Knowles (Diablo), 7/8 boy(s) Forrest White (Blackhawk) and Connor Doyle (Crow Canyon), 9/10 girl(s) Jennifer Barcelona and Daniella Orlandi (both from Crow Canyon), 9/10 boy Dillon Williams (Crow Canyon), 11/12 girl(s) Madison White (Blackhawk) and Christina Ray (Roundhill), 11/12 boy Stephen Stumph (Blackhawk), 13/14 girls Diedre Clute and Kelly Peterson (both from Roundhill), 13/14 boy Byron Gruendl (Crow Canyon), 15/18 girl Georgi Cappelletti (Blackhawk), 15/18 boy Chris Glass (Crow Canyon).
