The Arcadia High School (AHS) Swim team did an amazing job throughout the year. Most notably, several Swim team members individually qualified for CIF this year.

To qualify for CIF, a swimmer must swim either an automatic time or a consideration time in one of the eleven different swim events, according to Girls Varsity Swim team member, senior Hannah Aguilar. While an automatic time means that swimmers go directly to CIF, a consideration time means that swimmers will go to CIF only if they are one of the top 40 swimmers in their overall event in the CIF championship meet. Achieving a CIF time is no easy feat, considering that both the Boys and Girls Swim teams currently compete at the Division Two level.

“For the [preliminaries], we qualified [in] our Girls Medley Relay, 200 Freestyle Relay, and 400 Freestyle Relay,” Coach Janice Clark stated, when asked about the status of the Swim team CIF qualifications. “Individual girls who qualified for preliminaries were Emily Xu, in the 200 Freestyle and 100 Freestyle, and Jocelyn Wang in the 50 Freestyle. The boys who qualified individually for the preliminaries were Jonathan Liu in the 50 Freestyle, Ethan Chua in the 100 Backstroke, and Gavin Santoso in the 100 Breaststroke. [Arcadia] also qualified [in the] Boys Medley Relay and 400 Freestyle Relay.”

During that same week, at CIF finals, the AHS swim team continued their streak with amazing times all around, from both the boys’ and girls’ sides. 

50 Freestyle

Jocelyn Wang (25.06) – 14th place

Jonathan Liu (21.84) – 15th place

100 Freestyle

Emily Xu (50.91) – 1st place

200 Freestyle

Emily Xu (1:51.22) – 1st place

Boys Medley Relay  

Arcadia (1:37.65) – 8th place

Boys 400 Freestyle Relay

Arcadia (3:16.93) – 16th place

100 Breaststroke

Gavin Santoso (58.27) – 5th place

Additionally, Varsity Swim team member senior Emily Xu qualified for the CIF state and placed 9th in the 200 Freestyle with a time of 1:50.94, and 8th in the 100 Freestyle, swimming a 50.65.

When asked about how she felt about qualifying for CIF state, Xu said, “It’s a great way to end my high school career, that’s for sure. I’m proud of how far I’ve come from freshman year until now. During freshman year at Division 3 CIF, I placed 7th and 8th in my events. This year at Division 2 CIF, I placed 1st in both events, and qualified for CIF State Championships…I’m glad I was able to end on a high note.”

Xu added by saying, “I’m super proud of our accomplishments and couldn’t have done it without the efforts of each and every swimmer on the team.”

Swim team member senior Jonathan Liu also commented on his CIF qualification stating, “It’s my last year, so I was pretty elated when I found that I’d be going to CIF, for an individual event and two relays no less. I didn’t think I’d make an individual event after seeing the automatic times, as it required a near-best time from me to qualify. However, I managed to achieve it during the swim season—in our last dual meet, too! Making the relays was also nice because that meant I’d be going with a group of friends and be a leader to these underclassmen who can proudly call this their first CIF.”

Liu continued to say that “this past year with the swim team has been a roller coaster. I met a lot of new people, bonded with old ones, and overall had a LOT of fun. I do wish that our season was longer or [that] I had another year on this amazing team, but I really can’t complain when I’ve literally met some [of my] new favorite people and reignited old friendships.”

Reflecting on the year, Aguilar said, “I love the swim team with all my heart. I truly believe that we are like a large family. We all encourage one another to be better athletes and better people. We celebrate each other’s accomplishments and support each other during times of need. I have been privileged to have been a part of the team for my four years of high school. I have made countless friendships and memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life.”

Congratulations to the swim team and everything that they have accomplished this year! We look forward to their next season, and are excited to see what they can do next year!

Photo courtesy of BETHANIE CHOW