LODI, Calif. – Junior Ava Chavez broke her own school record in the 200-yard freestyle while freshman Erica Jaffe took down an 11-year-old program benchmark in the 100-yard backstroke, leading St. Francis highlights during the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section swimming trials at Tokay High School Thursday.

Chavez broke her own record with a time of one minute, 49.90 seconds to lead the field in the 200 free, surpassing her old mark of 1:50.07, set three weeks earlier at the Delta League championships. Jaffe followed with a 54.65 in the 100 back, breaking Sydney Johnson's old 2011 mark of 55.13. 

Chavez, Jaffe and Maddy Ching were three Troubadours to advance to Saturday's championship finals in two events. Chavez cracked the five-minute barrier in the 500 free for the second time this year, touching the pad in 4:59.04 for third place. Jaffe went 2:04.75 in the 200 individual medley before hitting her record time in the 100 back. M. Ching grabbed the eighth spot in the 200 free (1:53.76), then went 55.88 to finish third in the 100 fly prelims.

Jaffe, Ching and Chavez were also part of both freestyle relays that will compete in a championship final on Saturday. That trio plus anchor LK Holliday finished second in the 200 free relay at 1:36.73, with Jaffe recording a leadoff split of 24.13 and Chavez contributing a 23.41 in the third leg. They trailed the powerhouse Davis team by only a second heading into the anchor lap, but Blue Devil Makena Leacox came home with a 23.67 final split to gain some separation.

The varsity 400 free relay squad of Jaffe, M. Ching, Grace Mering and Chavez placed third in Thursday's finale, a mere tenth of a second behind Ponderosa at 3:30.55. Credit Jaffe with a 52.37 leadoff while Chavez anchored the team with a 51.24 finish.

Unfortunately, the Troubies surrendered some varsity team points when their 200 medley relay was disqualified for a false start. Relays are worth double the points of an individual event, with 40 going to first place, 34 to second, 32 to third, etc., 

St. Francis will also enjoy some representation (and scoring) in Saturday's varsity consolation finals, as Mering (200 IM, 100 back), Holliday (50 free, 100 free) and Makenna Frederiksen (100 fly, 100 breast) each advanced to the ninth-16th-place heats in multiple events. Jordyn Larson (100 fly) and Megan Gawlick (500 free) also earned second swims on the varsity side.

Among the Troubie frosh-soph swimmers, both the 200 medley and free relays earned spots in the final. The medley relay of Piper Brostrom, Mia Hill, Gabrielle Ching and Alexis DeAngelis finished fourth in the morning trial, then the 200 free relay foursome of G. Ching, Hill, P. Brostrom and DeAngelis went 1:44.86 – less than two tenths behind front-running Lodi (1:44.67).

Hill also made Saturday championship final berths in the 200 IM and 100 breast, placing second in the latter with a 1:07.86, almost a three-second improvement on her 1:10.35 from the Delta League meet. DeAngelis advanced to the 100 back consols while G. Ching will return to Tokay for a second swim in the 100 breast.

St. Francis entered the day in second place in the frosh-soph scoring (34 points) and fourth in the varsity standings (17 points), thanks to the diving results from McClatchy High the previous weekend.

The finals for all events take place on Saturday, again at Tokay High. The top three in each event on Saturday plus any swimmers or relays that hit the automatic qualifying standards will move on to the CIF state championships, held in Clovis on May 13-14.

2022 SAC-JOAQUIN SECTION SWIMMING TRIALS
Tokay High School (Lodi, Calif.)
Girls events only • Winners/leaders plus SFHS finishers listed

200 MEDLEY RELAY FROSH-SOPH - 1. Davis (L. Meraz, Kam, Cutler, Paquette), 1:53.66… 4. St. Francis (P. Brostrom, Hill, G. Ching, DeAngelis), 1:58.72.

200 MEDLEY RELAY VARSITY - 1. Davis (Dequine, Bennetts, I. Meraz, Rosendale), 1:41.53… St. Francis, DQ (false start).

200 FREESTYLE FROSH-SOPH - 1. Lauren Palacios, Bella Vista, 1:55.69.

200 FREESTYLE VARSITY - 1. Ava Chavez, St. Francis, 1:49.90… 8. Maddy Ching, 1:53.76; 19. Megan Gawlick, 1:58.14; 29. Greta Laborde Lagrave, 2:02.68.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY FROSH-SOPH - 1. Lily Erwin, Golden Sierra, 2:11.06… 5. Mia Hill, 2:14.98; 38. Alexis DeAngelis, 2:34.95.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY VARSITY - 1. Audrey Portello, Davis, 2:02.31… 5. Erica Jaffe, 2:04.75; 10. Grace Mering, 2:07.37; 17. Rachael Madden, 2:17.98.

50 FREESTYLE FROSH-SOPH - 1. Anamaria Ristic, Pleasant Grove, 24.88.

50 FREESTYLE VARSITY - 1. Charlotte Rosendale, Davis, 22.72… 13. LK Holliday, 25.13; 17. Emmy Asperger, 25.57 (25.64 swim-off); 23. Bianca Ignacio, 25.76; Jordyn Larson, DQ.

100 BUTTERFLY FROSH-SOPH - 1. Lauren Palacios, Bella Vista, 56.91… 19. Gabriella Ching, 1:05.53.

100 BUTTERFLY VARSITY - 1. Sanne Dequine, Davis, 54.01… 3. Maddy Ching, 55.88; 13. Jordyn Larson, 59.58; 14. Makenna Frederiksen, 1:00.46; 27. Kelly Wilson, 1:04.69.

100 FREESTYLE FROSH-SOPH - 1. Anamaria Ristic, Pleasant Grove, 54.00.

100 FREESTYLE VARSITY - 1. Sarah Bennetts, Davis, 50.23… 13. LK Holliday, 55.45; 23. Emmy Asperger, 56.97; 25. Ava Stimson, 57.32.

500 FREESTYLE FROSH-SOPH - 1. Anastasia Berejnoi, Folsom, 5:12.49… 29. Abigail Benavidez, 6:05.29.

500 FREESTYLE VARSITY - 1. Audrey Portello, Davis, 4:54.27… 3. Ava Chavez, 4:59.04; 16. Megan Gawlick, 5:16.75; 20. Teaghan Brostrom, 5:24.37; 34. Kelly Wilson, 5:38.15.

200 FREE RELAY FROSH-SOPH - 1. Lodi (Mortenson, Brandstad, Maldonado, Wilson), 1:44.67… 2. St. Francis (G. Ching, Hill, P. Brostrom, DeAngelis), 1:44.86.

200 FREE RELAY VARSITY - 1. Davis (Bennetts, Walker, I. Meraz, Leacox), 1:34.56… 2. St. Francis (Jaffe, M. Ching, Chavez, Holliday), 1:36.73.

100 BACKSTROKE FROSH-SOPH - 1. Keelan Ritchie, Ponderosa, 1:00.93… 15. Alexis DeAngelis, 1:07.79.

100 BACKSTROKE VARSITY - 1. Erica Jaffe, St. Francis, 54.65… 9. Grace Mering, 58.09; 18. Greta Laborde Lagrave, 1:01.82; 20. Bianca Ignacio, 1:02.25.

100 BREASTSTROKE FROSH-SOPH - 1. Samantha Jones, Cosumnes Oaks, 1:07.72… 2. Mia Hill, 1:07.86; 12. Gabriella Ching, 1:11.94.

100 BREASTSTROKE VARSITY - 1. Sarah Bennetts, Davis, 1:02.30… 10. Makenna Frederiksen, 1:07.19; 17. Rachael Madden, 1:10.16; 18. Ava Stimson, 1:10.31.

400 FREE RELAY FROSH-SOPH - 1. Lodi (Thurlow, Mortenson, DeVries, Reynolds), 3:45.00.

400 FREE RELAY VARSITY - 1. Davis (Dequine, Av. Portello, Au. Portello, Rosendale), 3:26.62… 3. St. Francis (Jaffe, M. Ching, Mering, Chavez), 3:30.55.