Varsity swim has once again dominated the North Coast Section meet, with the boys’ taking 1st place and the girls’ taking 4th overall. This is the 9th consecutive year Campo swim has won the NCS meet against teams from all over the section. Preliminaries took place on Friday, May 17, while finals followed May 18.
The meet featured outstanding efforts, including several broken records. Senior Sven Campbell, who swam the finals with a slight flu, went 47.65 seconds in the 100 yard backstroke to break the NCS meet record, while teammate and fellow senior Steven Stumph broke the national high school record in the 100 yard breaststroke, clocking an impressive 53.39 seconds. In fact, 3 swimmers in the 100 yard breaststroke broke the national record, but Stumph was the fastest of the trio.
In addition, the boys’ relay broke NCS records in both the 200 yard medley and the 400 yard freestyle relay. This relay included, in both cases, Campbell, Stumph, senior J.D. Ratchford, and junior Grant Sivesind.
Understandably, varsity coach John Studebaker was pleased with the way things turned out. “I think everyone went in prepared for the most part,” Studebaker said. “We did as well as we could have done.”
Sophomore Mary Ashby was also pleased with the outcome of the meet, not just for herself, but for the whole team. “I did way better than last year, and it was a good team bonding experience,” Ashby said. “I’m just so proud of Steven; I’m really proud of how everyone did. I think we did better as a whole team than last year, and I think there were a lot of amazing swims.”
The only downside in Studebaker’s mind is that the girls, who were slated to come in 3rd, slipped a place down to 4th. “There were a couple errors that we made,” he explained. “We moved down a little bit on the girls but we still swam well.” Studebaker cites juniors Hannah Grubbs’ and Allison Stevens’ 100 back races as some highlights on the girls’ side. The girls’ 400 free relay, which included Grubbs, Stevens, Ashby, and senior Meghan Bicomong, earned 2nd place and was also counted a highlight.
