Samo swim dives into the water hunting for wins
Sara Javerbaum, Staff Writer
On March 3, Samo’s girls’ and boys’ swim team had their first home meet of the year against Mira Costa. While they didn’t win against the notoriously athletically strong school, they made many triumphs.
For many freshmen on the team, it was their first meet representing Samo.
“I had a lot of fun getting to connect with everybody on the team. Overall, I just really enjoyed it and we had a lot of fun. It was cool getting to see all of the teams we’re gonna get to compete with in the future, and it was good to get to see all of our competition’s--and our--strengths and weaknesses,” Daniela Petran (’25), one of seven freshmen on the girls’ varsity team.
Kyle Kim (’23) won the boy’s varsity 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.81 seconds as well as the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 55.93 seconds.
Serena Wu (’25) broke a personal record for the girl’s varsity 100-yard freestyle with a time of 59.01 seconds.
Though Samo clearly succeeded athletically, they also demonstrated genuine camaraderie and support for their team, cheering loud enough to intimidate Mira Costa. The team took every opportunity to root and rally for their fellow teammates.
Head coach Matthew Flanders feels that the team is extremely close-knit.
“Everybody bonded really quickly, seeing as there’s three kinds of swimmers. There’s water polo players, club water polo players, club swimmers, sometimes we hardly ever see them. So it’s really good that they bonded so well, they’re a pretty great bunch of kids,” Flanders said.
Overall, the team excelled in both teamwork and athletic ability in their first swim meet of the season.
On March 15, the Samo boys’ and girls’ swim team had their second meet of the season against Peninsula High School. While their varsity team lost, they showed great improvement.
In this meet, while Samo excelled in all strokes, freestyle seemed to be their strong suit.
Giacamo Rivers-Alteri (’23) broke his personal record for the win in the boys’ 100-yard freestyle race with a time of 52.34 seconds.
Catherine Chun (’25), Isabella Garcia (’24), Riley Schreier (’25) and Hope Hamilton (’25) won the Varsity 200-yard freestyle race with a time of 1:35.49 minutes.
Samo’s varsity boys’ team did, in fact, win the aforementioned race, the last and most eventful race of the night. Spectators cheering on both Peninsula High School and Santa Monica High School were louder than they had been the whole night. However, according to assistant coach Syd Lovelace, their victory came down to a split second and was disputed.
“It came down to a photo finish and we won it! The crowd went wild and it was really, really exciting. At first, the clock had said that the other team had won, but what we found out is that one of their swimmers accidentally stepped on the touchpad and stopped the timer before they had won the race. It was down to a fingernail,” Lovelace said.
On March 21, Samo’s girls and boys swim team had another home meet against Cleveland High School. Samo left with their heads held high after another win.
Zachary Tower (’25) won the boy’s varsity 100-yard butterfly with a final time of 54.74 seconds.
Annalena Siering (’22), Maya Alpert (’25), Lillian Topp (’25) and Alessandra Lawson (’22) won the girl’s varsity 200-yard IM relay with a final time of 2:03.84.
On March 24, Samo’s girls and boys swim team had a home meet against Palos Verdes. Both boy’s and girl’s varsity had a dramatic win against PV.Annaleise Hanson (’22) had a final time of 2:04.76, giving her first place in the girl’s 200-yard freestyle.
Alan Shaaban (’24) won the boy’s 500-yard freestyle with a final time of 5:01.47
Summer Liu (’23) had a final time of 1:03.80, winning her the girl’s 100-yard butterfly.
Assistant coach Syd Lovelace reflected on how talented the freshmen on the varsity girls team are.
“I feel like there’s a lot more freshmen girls on varsity for sure. In the past the girls typically wait a year or two to get fast enough for varsity, so it’s been very surprising to see how fast our ninth-grade girls are,” Lovelace said.
Members of Samo girls’ swimming dive into Samo’s new pool during a meet against Mira Costa on March 3, 2022.
