CLOVIS, Calif. –  Freshman Erica Jaffe and junior Ava Chavez each broke long-time school records to highlight St. Francis during the prelims session of the CIF state swimming & diving championships, held at Clovis West High School's Clovis Olympic Swim Complex Friday afternoon. 

Chavez improved more than a full second from her seed mark with a third-place time of four minutes, 52.04 seconds in the 500-yard freestyle, surpassing the oldest surviving standard in the SFHS record book. Katie Younglove went 4:52.94 back in 1998, the year she won her third straight Sac-Joaquin Section title in that event. Younglove (now Zylstra) later earned multiple All-America honors at UCLA and became one of the charter members of the Troubadours' Athletic Hall of Fame inductees.

Earlier in the meet, Chavez finished third in the 200 free prelims at 1:49.20, slightly ahead of Harvard Westlake's Lily Neumann (1:49.37). Chavez posted cumulative splits of 24.83 through 50 yards, 52.53 at the midway point and 1:21.37 through 150 yards en route to that finish.

Jaffe went 2:03.18 in the 200 individual medley, besting Sydney Johansen's old school benchmark of 2:03.42 from the 2011 section championships. She went 26.63 in the butterfly leg, 30.69 in the backstroke, 36.89 in the breaststroke, then came home with a 28.97 freestyle finish. Jaffe later earned as second swim in the 100 backstroke, with her 55.48 placing ninth to lead Saturday's consolation final. Grace Mering nearly joined Jaffe in the 100 back consols but her 56.45 missed the cut by about one eighth of a second.

Yet another SF record fell soon after the 500 free during the 200 free relay, when Chavez, Jaffe, Maddy Ching and L.K. Holliday compiled a 1:35.78 to snare the No. 7 seed to Saturday's championship final. Chavez nearly broke her own 50 free record with a 23.82 leadoff, while Jaffe followed with a 23.79 in the second leg. That same foursome went 1:35.81 just a week earlier at the CIF-SJS meet.

Finally, the 400 free relay squad of Jaffe, Ching, Mering and Chavez went 3:28.54 to place seventh in Friday's prelim. In all, St. Francis will have two individuals (both Chavez) and two relays in championship finals, with Jaffe in a pair of consolation finals during Saturday's action. The finals session begins at 10:30 a.m.

2022 CIF STATE SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIP PRELIMS
Clovis West High School (Clovis, Calif.)
Events with SFHS entrants only • Leaders plus SFHS finishers listed

GIRLS' 200 FREESTYLE  - 1. Claire Tuggle, St. Joseph, 1:47.09... 3. Ava Chavez, 1:49.20.

GIRLS' 200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY - 1. Teagan O'Dell, Santa Margarita, 1:56.06... 10. Erica Jaffe, 2:03.18.

GIRLS' 100 BUTTERFLY - 1. Justina Kozan, Santa Margarita, 53.99... 22. Maddy Ching, 56.03.

GIRLS' 500 FREESTYLE - 1. Claire Tuggle, St. Joseph, 4:44.90... 3. Ava Chavez, 4:52.04.

GIRLS' 200 FREE RELAY - 1. Santa Margarita (Lin, Salvino, Aquino, Ervin), 1:32.65... 7. St. Francis (Chavez, Jaffe, Ching, Holliday), 1:35.78.

GIRLS' 100 BACKSTROKE - 1. Teagan O'Dell, Santa Margarita, 52.40... 9. Erica Jaffe, 55.48; 19. Grace Mering, 56.45.

GIRLS' 400 FREE RELAY - 1. Santa Margarita (Hodges, Salvino, O'Dell, Kozan), 3:15.61... 7. St. Francis (Jaffe, Ching, Mering, Chavez), 3:28.54.