FORT BRAGG — The combined swimming team of Clear Lake and Kelseyville high schools wrapped up its regular season on Saturday at the Coastal Mountain Conference Championships in Fort Bragg, coming away with many medals, personal-best performances and even a team record.
Eight schools took part in the qualifier for the North Coast Section Championships, which take place Friday and Saturday at the Concord Community Pool in Concord.
Clear Lake/Kelseyville swimmers earned 19 medals in all. Nick Dobusch of Kelseyville High School completed a perfect season in the 100-yard butterfly and 100 backstroke, going undefeated in both events. He received first-place medals at Fort Bragg and set a new team record while winning the 100 backstroke. The senior enters the sectional championships ranked 16th in Northern California in the backstroke and 21st in the butterfly.
According to head coach Agustin Merodio, Dobusch overcame some serious disadvantages to maintain his status as a top-notch swimmer.
“Nick’s success in these two events shows the depth of his passion for the sport and his perseverance in the water,” Merodio said. “The pool we practice in is not competition length so he cannot effectively practice his backstroke turns. The pool has no lane lines on the bottom so a swimmer cannot gauge the flip turn and we have no dive blocks to practice competitive dives. All of these factors lead us to a severe disadvantage at competitive meets, yet Nick is still ranked high at the state level.”
Added Merodio, “I’m proud of our entire team … they represented us well at the league championships. Personal-best times were shattered and we left the water with a deep sense of accomplishment.”
Also winning medals were Emma Larsen from Kelseyville High School, first in the 50 freestyle and second in the 100 freestyle; Jenna Williams of Kelseyville High, third in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly; and Catherine Braider of Clear Lake High, third in the 200 freestyle.
The girls relay team made up of Larsen, Williams, Braider and Bella Schlange won a second-place medals in the 200 freestyle relay and a third-place medal in the 200 medley relay.
For the boys, Dobusch, Evan Holdenreid, Thomas Lairson and Elijah Alvarez won a third-place medal in the 200 freestyle relay.
All-Conference honors went to Braider, Williams, Larsen, Schlange for the girls, and Dobusch, Lairson and Holdenreid for the boys.
Braider, Larsen and Dobusch were named most valuable swimmers on the Clear Lake/Kelseyville squad.
Graduating seniors Dobusch and Larsen plan on swimming at the collegiate level in the fall and both have been offered scholarships to four-year universities.
According to Merodio, the Clear Lake/Kelseyville swim team season wouldn’t have been possible without the considerable assistance of Quail Run Fitness Center for allowing his swimmers to use the Quail Run pool throughout the season. The team also expressed its thanks to the chefs at Fresh and Bangin’ for the delicious lunch it provided during the championships.
