Swim team’s first strokes looked promising

The women’s swim team can dry off with their heads held high at the close of the spring 2013 season.

After a two-year hiatus, coach Andrew Silva brought back the women’s swim team. Overall the team has got off to a good start for next season. They placed 18th out of 31in swim meet held Feb 23 at Mt. Sac, and won 103-85 on April 5 against Santa Monica.

“Next year’s team will have the benefit of starting their conditioning earlier in the school-year, which will put the swimmers in much better shape by the time our competitive season starts in spring 2014,” says Silva.

Kelsey Droegemueller, Julie Gongwer, Bobbie Mitchell, Marisa Moreno and Kristen Pampu finished in the top 50 in a March 23 Western State Conference meet in Ventura.

“Now as the program moves forward we can focus on training at a level that will help us compete against the more established swim teams from the entire state,” said Silva.

The Owls also placed top 20 in medley relay events on Feb 23 at Mt Sac. Some key players include Gabriela Debia who placed 15th at a Valley Glen meet April 19.

Chelsea Fujita-Haffner placed 5th in the 50 free on March 15th at LA Valley. Kristen Pampu, Mariana Preciado and Lora Marquez-Salgado took third in the 200 Free Relay on April 19 at Valley Glen.

And for the first time in three years, the swim team held a home meet at the Citrus Aquatics Center, which turned out to be a huge success for all players and head coach Silva.

“I could not be happier with how this past season went, given that it had been three years since Citrus fielded a women’s swim team,” said Silva.

The goal for next season is “to see the team build on the success they had this past year, and continue to improve so we can reach our ultimate goal of competing for a conference title,” says Silva.

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