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Santa Margarita’s girls extended their title reign and Northwood’s boys returned to the top at the CIF State swimming and diving championships Saturday at Clovis West High in Fresno.
The Eagles followed the lead of standout Teagan O’Dell to a sixth consecutive title while the Timberwolves employed their depth to claim their first crown since 2018.
After a one-year absence at the meet, O’Dell won the 200-yard individual medley and 100 backstroke and led off two winning relays to help her team score 229.5 points.
Santa Margarita cracked at least the 200-point barrier for the sixth straight state meet in outdistancing runner-up San Ramon Valley (170.5)
“An amazing performance,” Santa Margarita co-coach Rich Blanc said. “This year was a really close-knit group of girls who didn’t want to leave the pool afterward.”
O’Dell touched first the 200 individual medley (1 minute, 53.96 seconds) and the backstroke (51.27) in completing the double for the third time in her storied career.
In prelims Friday, the Cal-bound senior set meet and Orange County records in the backstroke with a time of 50.82.
O’Dell led off the Eagles’ winning 200 (1:31.55) and 400 (3:22.76) freestyle relays with splits of 22.39 and 48.61.
During prelims, the three-time O.C. swimmer of the year set the meet record in the 100 free with a relay leadoff split of 48.02.
Santa Margarita’s 200 free relay included seniors Chloe Stinson, Victoria Mori and Gracyn Aquino.
The Eagles also featured seniors Sammy Cummins, Morgan Hoppe and Audrey Lee.
Northwood boys didn’t capture an individual event or relay in scoring 180 points to outdistance runner-up and host Clovis West (161).
Northwood highlighted its second state title by finishing as the runner-up in the 400 free relay in a county-leading 2:59.14.
The team consisted by freshman Eli Siniak and seniors Will Chen, Andrew Maksymowski and Derek Hitchens.
Hitchens placed second in the 100 back with a 47.67.
“This year was hard-fought with lower numbers (of swimmers) and our pool being down,” Northwood coach Alex Nieto said. “Our boys showed tremendous resilience all season even when meets and invitationals didn’t go our way.”
“Our second state title is a testament to the culture of achievement we have,” the coach added.
Foothill of Pleasanton sophomore Luka Mijatovic highlighted the meet by setting a national record in the 500 free with a time of 4:11.91. It was the third national record set at the state meet in the past four years.
Maksymowski placed fourth in the race in 4:24.39. He also took fourth in the 200 free (1:36.13).
Mater Deu junior Elonzo Santos touched fourth in the breaststroke in 54.54.
In diving on Friday, reigning state champion Grant Schneider of Capistrano Valley Christian and Valentino Nieto of Santa Margarita placed second and third, respectively.
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