Mountain View boys swimming claimed city supremacy for the fourth year in a row Tuesday as the three Thompson School District programs begin to focus on the season’s final meets.
The Mountain Lions scored 376 points at the Mountain View Aquatic Center to win the annual R2J City Meet. Loveland was second with 182 and Thompson Valley third with 81.
All three teams are making final preparations for their conference meet next weekend and the Class 4A state meet the following week, but Tuesday was an opportunity to compete in a fun environment for the city’s three boys programs.
For the Mountain Lions’ seniors, their team win completed a four-year run of finishing on top that began when the group were freshmen. What started as a slim victory for them in 2023, has turned into runaway victories the past couple of years.
“It’s been really fun,” Mountain View senior Zac Chang said. “I remember my freshman year it was a close meet. We almost didn’t win and so now that we’re seniors having won the past four years, it’s been pretty fun just remembering it all and seeing how much the team has grown.”
Chang was on two of Mountain View’s winning relays Tuesday as the Mountain Lions swept all three multi-swimmer events, beginning with a 1-minute, 41.01-second time in the meet-opening 200-yard medley relay. Mountain View also won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:30.36 and the 400 freestyle relay in 3:40.72.
The Mountain Lions have set school records this season in the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays but were above those marks Tuesday. They are currently ranked fifth in Class 4A in the medley relay (1:39.10) and sixth in the 400 freestyle relay (3:22.52). Their time in the 200 freestyle relay was their fastest of the season and moved them up to seventh in 4A.
“This is the first year we’ve actually had enough guys to actually stack all three relays,” Chang said. “We’ve got competitive relays, competitive freestyles, and we’re able to actually have different guys on each one which is going to be nice going into conference.”
Other individual winners for the Mountain Lions on Tuesday were Nathan Dicks in the 200 freestyle (1:55.24), JJ Phillips in the 100 freestyle (48.01) and Jackson Willard in the 100 backstroke (59.55).
Loveland was led by a pair of double-winners in Alex Patricelli and Will Schneider. Patricelli won the 50 freestyle (21.65) and the 100 butterfly (55.77), while Schneider won the 200 individual medley (2:09.70) and the 100 breaststroke (1:05.65). Brooks Rehnberg won the 500 freestyle in 5:51.18.
The Red Wolves were second in the 200 medley relay (1:42.94) and the 200 freestyle relay (1:31.65) and were third behind Mountain View’s A and B teams in the 400 freestyle relay (3:59.66).
“It went really well as a team,” Schneider said. “Individually, we also swam pretty hot. All of our boys set near best times, so I was really proud of them. And then on top of that, we were all swimming pretty sharp for nearing the end of the season even though we’re all tired.”
Thompson Valley’s lone individual winner was Nathaniel Chou, who took first in a small field of divers with a six-dive score of 235.95. Chou has the eighth-best 11-dive score in 4A with a 414.75.
After a short hiatus from diving, he has returned to the event this season and despite recovering from a broken collarbone that forced him to start the season late, he has asserted himself as one to watch at this year’s 4A state meet.
“I started in sixth grade all the way until eighth grade and then I quit and came back sophomore year,” he said. “I heard people talking about diving and I kind of missed just being able to go, ‘Hey, that’s me too. I dive.’ I don’t know, I just saw some diving, and I just started to miss it.”
He added that his season started out a little rough while returning from his injury, but once he has been back, he has improved every time he has stepped on the board.
Even reaching a state qualifying score was a little surprising to him.
“Coming back to diving, I wasn’t entirely sure if I could make it that far and I wasn’t even sure what the threshold was to get to state,” he said. “But as soon as I found out I made it, I was like, ‘Oh, shoot.’ I remember it was at a meet, and the coaches were in some room and they’re like, ‘Oh, this is a state qualifier meet for you.’ I wasn’t expecting it, so I was surprised.”
Loveland and Mountain View have one more meet this week, Thursday against Windsor, before their conference meet next week. All three teams will compete in the Northern League championships with prelims scheduled for May 1 and finals May 2 at the Mountain View Aquatic Center.
