SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Sophomore Erica Jaffe led the prelims in both the 200-yard individual medley and 100 backstroke, while senior Maddy Ching leads six Troubadours to Friday's final in the 50 freestyle, highlighting St. Francis in Thursday's portion of the Delta League swimming and diving championships, held at American River College.

The meet consisted of preliminary heats only on Thursday. As is standard for a championship meet, the top eight in the prelim round moves on to vie for the first-through-eighth spots in Friday's final, with the next eight advancing to the consolation final and the chance for 9th-16th points. In all, five of the Day 2 individual varsity championship finals will have at least four Troubies: six SF swimmers advanced in the 50 free, five in the 100 free, plus four each in the 100 butterfly, 500 free and 100 back.

Jaffe posted a first-place time of two minutes, 7.61 seconds in the IM; then later bested the field in the 100 back at 57.67. She will join Grace Mering (fourth), Marissa Recio (fifth) in Friday's final for that event, while her 100 back win led a 1-2-5-6 finish with Mering, Bianca Ignacio and Greta Laborde Lagrave, respectively.

Maddy Ching's 25.16 led a half dozen Troubies among the top eight in Thursday's prelim, along with Emmy Asperger (25.70), Ignacio (25.98), LK Holliday (26.04), Gabriella Ching (26.91) and Sarah Becker (27.13). Defending league champion Davis will have the other two championship finalists in Sara Kos (25.19) and Bailey Paquette (25.97).

Blue Devil Sarah Bennetts captured the other sprint free event at 53.28, but Mia Hill (second), Isabelle Schmid (fourth), Laborde Lagrave (fifth), Asperger (tied-sixth) and Holliday (eighth) will represent SF in Friday's championship final.

Senior Ava Chavez led a Troubie trifecta in the 100 butterfly at 55.23, with Maddy Ching (56.74) and Jordyn Larson (58.14) capturing the next two places. Makenna Frederiksen's sixth-place 1:00.47 puts four in the hunt for top-eight points. Shortly after that race, Larson led a 4-5-6-8 St. Francis finish in the 500 free at 5:08.03, cutting more than four seconds from her previous season best of 5:12.76. Megan Gawlick, Recio and Teaghan Brostrom snared the 5-6-8 places in the race.

The Troubies finished first or second in the three relays, with the crew of Recio, Hill, Ignacio and Schmid touching in first for the day's finale, the 400 free relay.

Among the junior varsity events, sophomore Alexis DeAngelis led St. Francis with wins in each of the 200 IM (2:23.84) and 100 breast (1:14.50). The breaststroke event had four Troubies among the top five, with Gabriella McHugh (1:17.56), Milena Bonnici (1:17.64) and Rose Haag (1:20.70) coming through as 3-4-5 overall finishers. 

In turn, McHugh (27.17), Haag (28.70) and senior Sydney Glenn (28.76) had previously given St. Francis a 1-3-4 showing the 50 free.

The Troubies entered Thursday's session with the lead in team scoring, as the 1-meter diving portion was conducted on Wednesday at Rio Americano High. Sinclair Yadao defended her league title and led a 63-point bump in that competition. Coverage of the diving portion is available at gotroubies.com/sports/wswimdive/2022-23/releases/202304201srg70.

Friday's finals begin at 2 p.m. at ARC. St. Francis hunts for its first Delta League title since 2015.

2023 DELTA LEAGUE SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
American River College (Sacramento, Calif.)
Girls' events only • Winners plus SFHS finishers listed • All events are prelims unless otherwise noted

200 MEDLEY RELAY JV - 1. Davis (Malinowski, Uyeyama, Knowles, Santoyo), 2:21.02.

200 MEDLEY RELAY VARSITY - 1. Davis (Chrysler, Hadani, Cutler, Valle), 1:53.54... 2. St. Francis (Ignacio, Recio, G.Ching, Becker), 1:58.34.

200 FREE JV - 1. Emily Shinstock, Davis, 2:07.20... 2. Abigail Benavidez, 2:11.96; 4. Miranda Ferguson, 2:25.63.

200 FREE VARSITY - 1. Ava Portello, Davis, 1:51.56... 2. Ava Chavez, 1:51.60; 4. Isabelle Schmid, 1:57.53; 8. Megan Gawlick, 1:59.32; 9. Teaghan Brostrom, 2:02.68.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY JV - 1. Alexis DeAngelis, SF, 2:23.84... 4. Olivia Charles, 2:35.16.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY VARSITY - 1. Erica Jaffe, SF, 2:07.61... 4. Grace Mering, 2:09.26; 5. Marissa Recio, 2:14.51; 11. Rachael Madden, 2:23.66.

50 FREESTYLE JV - 1. Gabriella McHugh, SF, 27.17... 3. Rose Haag, 28.50; 4. Sydney Glenn, 28.76; 13. Neta Tovar, 36.67.

50 FREESTYLE VARSITY - 1. Maddy Ching, SF, 25.16... 3. Emmy Asperger, 25.70; 5. Bianca Ignacio, 25.98; 6. LK Holliday, 26.04; 7. Gabriella Ching, 26.91; 8. Sarah Becker, 27.13. 

100 BUTTERFLY JV - 1. Emmy Burns, Davis, 1:07.46... 2. Piper Brostrom, 1:10.37; 3. Olivia Charles, 1:11.17.

100 BUTTERFLY VARSITY - 1. Ava Chavez, SF, 55.23... 2. Maddy Ching, 56.74; 3. Jordyn Larson, 58.14; 6. Makenna Frederiksen, 1:00.47; 12. Camille Olsen, 1:09.81.

100 FREESTYLE JV - 1. Emily Shinstock, Davis, 57.95... 2. Sydney Glenn, 1:02.98; 3. Isabella Davis, 1:03.16; 9. Neta Tovar, 1:26.75.

100 FREESTYLE VARSITY - 1. Sarah Bennetts, Davis, 53.28... 2. Mia Hill, 55.11; 4. Isabelle Schmid, 55.67; 5. Greta Laborde Lagrave, 56.61; 6 (tie). Emmy Asperger, 56.90; 8. LK Holliday, 57.07; 10. Sarah Becker, 58.30.

500 FREESTYLE JV - 1. Wenqi Yang, Davis, 5:53.12... 2. Abigail Benavidez, 5:55.25; 3. Miranda Ferguson, 6:27.12.

500 FREESTYLE VARSITY - 1. Ava Portello, Davis, 5:04.04... 4. Jordyn Larson, 5:08.03; 5. Megan Gawlick, 5:14.45; 6. Marissa Recio, 5:17.89; 8. Teaghan Brostrom, 5:24.36.

200 FREE RELAY JV - 1. Davis (Uyeyama, Groveman, Neal, Facciotti), 2:05.36.

200 FREE RELAY VARSITY - 1. Davis (Meraz, Paquette, Chrysler, Ackerman), 1:42.79... 2. St. Francis (Laborde Lagrave, Becker, Asperger, Olsen), 1:47.22.

100 BACKSTROKE JV - 1. Mila Kimball, Davis, 1:08.57... 2. Piper Brostrom, 1:09.24; 3. Milena Bonnici, 1:10.04; 5. Isabella Davis, 1:13.91,

100 BACKSTROKE VARSITY - 1. Erica Jaffe, SF, 57.67... 2. Grace Mering, 1:00.19; 5. Bianca Ignacio, 1:02.14; 6. Greta Laborde Lagrave, 1:02.38; 14. Camille Olsen, 1:10.71.

100 BREASTSTROKE JV - 1. Alexis DeAngelis, SF, 1:13.43... 3. Gabriella McHugh, 1:17.56; 4. Milena Bonnici, 1:17.64; 5. Rose Haag, 1:20.70.

100 BREASTSTROKE VARSITY - 1. Sarah Bennetts, Davis, 1:04.22... 4. Makenna Frederiksen, 1:08.38; 7. Mia Hill, 1:10.62; 9. Gabriella Ching, 1:11.99; 11. Rachael Madden, 1:13.39.

400 FREE RELAY JV - 1. Davis (Neal, Malinowski, Israel, Facciotti), 4:40.42.

400 FREE RELAY VARSITY - 1. St. Francis (Ignacio, Schmid, Recio, Hill), 3:44.44.

1-METER DIVING JV FINAL - 1. Farah Fox, SF, 263.45... 2. Sam Powers, 126.16.

1-METER DIVING VARSITY FINAL - 1. Sinclair Yadao, SF, 397.05... 3. Paige Vicente,, 340.55; 5. Jaiden Jackson, 268.00; 6. Maya Hamilton, 252.80.