CALISTOGA >> Team comes before wins and losses for coach Agustin Merodio of the the combined Clear Lake/Kelseyville swimming squad, which made its second strong showing in as many meets on Thursday during Coastal Mountain Conference action in Calistoga.
While Clear Lake/Kelseyville, which combines swimmers from the two high schools, was allowed to compete as a single team for scoring purposes when it was a member of the Sonoma County League, that is no longer the case now that it swims in the CMC.
League rules require Clear Lake swimmers and Kelseyville swimmers to compete as separate teams if they want to challenge for CMC team titles.
Instead, Merodio said Clear Lake and Kelseyville will forfeit team results and continue to concentrate on individual events.
“We are making this stand because it is in the best interest of the swimmers,” Merodio said. “They practice together, travel together and celebrate together. We will not split them up. Our relay teams will continue to be made up of swimmers from both schools and they will be able to say they won or lost by the times they achieve in the water. We have struggled too hard to get this team into the water to let the competitive nature of other schools dictate how we run our races.”
The Clear Lake/Kelseyville girls and boys won nearly event contested on Thursday.
Among the boys, firsts went to Max Madryzyk in the 200-yard freestyle and 100 butterfly, Diego Tejeda in the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke, Alberto Sturr in the 500 freestyle and 100 backstroke, and to the 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay teams of Sturr, Tejeda, Madryzk and Ethan Smith.
Among the girls, Liz Fricker won the 100 breaststroke, Paige LaVrar won the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke, Lauren Rudnick won the 500 freestyle and 200 individual medley, Shannon Fronsman won the 100 butterfly and 50 freestyle, and Nikki Hanson won the 200 freestyle. Relay wins came in the 200 medley relay, 400 freestyle relay and 200 freestyle relay.
Clear Lake/Kelseyville travels to Willits next Thursday.
