Van Nuys High School swim in City Championships

As back-to-back champions and runner-ups of the Valley Mission League, the Van Nuys High School girls’ varsity swim team and boys’ varsity swim team competed on May 12, 2015 for the preliminaries and May 15, 2015 for the championships. Captains Rebecca Nguyen and Iulia Rusu led the girls’ team while captains Cesar Vargas, Kyle Baluyut, and Cristian Sanz led the boys’ team to success at East Los Angeles College.

On Tuesday’s preliminaries, around 50 schools swam fiercely through the lanes for a chance to move on to City Championships on Friday. The boys qualified for their 200 yard medley relay, 200 freestyle relay, and 400 yard freestyle relay. For the girls, they qualified for the 200 yard medley relay, 200 freestyle relay, and 400 yard freestyle relay. In addition, Rebecca Nguyen and Claire Liu individually qualified for their 200 IM (individual medley), and Iulia Rusu for the 200 yard freestyle.

Since the competition was more intense than ever, only the girls’ relays qualified for championships on Friday from Van Nuys High School. Of the ones that moved on to the consolation heats, the 400 yard freestyle relay won first in the 400 yard freestyle relay, the 200 yard medley relay placed second, and the 200 yard freestyle relay placed sixth. In all three races, the swimmers achieved their personal bests.

“I have come to realize that every swimmer questions his or her resolve and sanity in waking up super early everyday just to jump in freezing water every morning,” senior Rebecca Nguyen said. “But after 4 years of diving into frigid pools, I can look back at the enduring friendships, memories, and amazing accomplishments of the team and honestly say, swimming has been one of my best high school experiences.”