South Placer Swim roundup: Granite Bay High wins SFL, Sierra College men win Big 8

League and conference championships took place last weekend for area swim teams with athletes having one more opportunity to qualify for section or state meets. Here is a look at some of the top performers and teams. Sierra Foothill League The Granite Bay High Grizzlies boys and girls both won the Sierra Foothill League over Oak Ridge High with multiple athletes winning their respective races and qualifying for the Sac-Joaquin Section meet. On the girls' side, Rosie Murphy won the 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard individual medley. She also helped lead the 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relays to wins with Mary Brooke Chandler. Chandler won the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle races. Ella McCarron won the 50-yard freestyle race. On the boys' side, senior Hayden Ghufran had a fantastic day winning both the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle races, along with leading the 200-yard and 400-yard freestyle relays teams to victory. "The energy on the deck was amazing and you could really feel the hyped-up atmosphere before and during the races," Ghufran said. "Setting two new individual league records was definitely a goal that I had set and achieving that in addition to the team's success was a definite bonus for me." Also on the 200-yard freestyle relay team was Chris Nihart, who won the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle races. Ethan Scifres won the 100-yard breaststroke. The Grizzlies boys last won the league title in 2018 while the girls won in 2019. The Lady Grizzlies are going after their first section title since 2017 while the boys haven't won since 2015. Whitney High's girls' team finished third at the league championships with freshman Jada Duncan highlighting the event for the Wildcats with a first-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle and finishing second in the 100-yard backstroke. "I was pleased with both of my individual swims and relay races but there's still room to improve, including my walls, finishes and starts," Duncan said. "Sections is where I'm really going to focus on those kinds of things a little more and take things way more seriously so I can come up on top with both of my races this time." Fellow freshman Landrey Gold placed third in the 100-yard butterfly and fourth in the 500-yard freestyle, qualifying for sections in both races. On the boys' side, Martin Feuillet and Unai Bassa competed in the three-meter diving event with Feuillet coming in second and Bassa finishing fourth. The Del Oro High boys' team finished third and was led by Sean Christianson, who won both the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard butterfly. Louis Fasinisi came first in the 100-yard backstroke while Cayden Pitzer finished second. On the girls' side, Melanie Quinto came in first in the 100-yard breaststroke and placed second in the 200-yard individual medley. Chloe Eyrich was third in the 500-yard freestyle and fourth in the 100-yard butterfly. The Rocklin High Thunder boys came in fourth and were led by Morgan Madril, who was second in the 100-yard butterfly. Aaron Mayer also performed well, grabbing a Top 5 finish in the 100-yard freestyle. For the girls, Kyra Burns finished second in the 500-yard freestyle and Emily Jaquish was fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke. Rocklin High's junior varsity boys team finished second while the girls came in third. Sierra College The Wolverines men's team won their fifth straight Big 8 Conference title on Saturday by 282.5 points over American River College. The men, who won the state championship in 2019, were led by freshman Tommy Collins, who placed first in the 200-yard butterfly, along with the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle races. Collins also won the 200-yard medley relay and the 800-yard freestyle relay with Wyatt Somers, Evan Terry and Andrew Espinosa. Espinosa finished first in the 100-yard freestyle while Terry won the 50-yard freestyle, along with the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke races. Jake Reuter placed first in the 200-yard and 400-yard individual medleys, dropping nearly five and 10 seconds, respectively, off of his previous times. Reuter also won the 200-yard breaststroke. For the women, they finished second in the Big 8 losing by 27 points to San Joaquin Delta College but had a plethora of great performances such as the team of Camryn Bussey, Piper Rea, Isabella Wilhelms and Bella Katapodis. The team won the 200-yard and 400-yard freestyle and medley relays and also finished well in individual events. Bussey was third in the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard freestyle races while Rea won the 200-yard individual medley. Wilhelms placed first in the 400-yard individual medley and came in second in the 200-yard butterfly. Katapodis raced in the one-mile freestyle, finishing at 19:02 and dropping nearly 90 seconds off of her previous time. "That was only my second time swimming the mile, so I have to give credit to my coaches and teammates," Katapodis said. "My coaches kept me on pace and my teammates cheered me on the entire race. When I got to the last 50 yards, I just gave it all I had left." The Wolverines now prepare for the California Community College Athletic Association State Championships, which will take place at the College of East Los Angeles from May 5 to May 7. Capital Valley Conference The Woodcreek Timberwolves boys won the Capital Valley Conference last weekend while the girls finished second. Leading the boys' team was sophomore Shane Carter, who won the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle races and helped the 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay teams to victory. Senior Ethan Chen came in first in the 100-yard butterfly while junior Caden Rutan won the 100-yard freestyle. For the girls, Aliyah Treadwell won the 500-yard freestyle and came in third in the 100-yard backstroke. Sofia Paez was second in the 200-yard freestyle and helped the 400-yard freestyle relay team to victory with Treadwell. Lauren Costa placed third in the 100-yard breaststroke and was fourth in the 200-yard individual medley. Allyson Boudreaux came in second in the 50-yard freestyle. Roseville High's girls took third-place while the boys were fourth in the league championships. Sophomore Lillian Wolfinger won the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard individual medley while Tessa Breitbart was third in the 100-yard butterfly. For the boys, Lillian's senior brother, Kaleb Wolfinger, led the way with wins in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard backstroke. "I really wanted to focus on my technique that I've worked on in the past few weeks, so even though that wasn't the fastest I should have gone, I felt like I had some great swims," Kaleb Wolfinger said. "I would like to get Top 2 in one of my events at sections so I can swim at the states meet. I enjoy racing people who are faster than me because it helps me push myself harder and it makes me want to be faster, pretty much serving as my motivation to keep training." Deklan Heinzen placed second in the 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard breaststroke while Keaton Boatwright was second in the 50-yard freestyle. Foothill Valley League Oakmont High's boys' and girls' teams finished fourth at the Foothill Valley League Championships. Freshman Samantha Sim won the 200-yard individual medley race at 2:22 and was third in the 100-yard breaststroke. Simone Sapico came in second in the 100-yard butterfly and was on the 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relay teams that finished third. Junior Leila Melendez came in fifth in the 50-yard freestyle, just barely sneaking in with a qualifying time of 26.72 seconds. For the boys, Tyler Lim finished second in the 100-yard backstroke while David Alcala was fifth in the 100-yard freestyle. West Park High's Morgan Forkum finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:07 and was the first athlete in the history of the school to qualify for the section meet at the varsity level.