CLOVIS, Calif. – Senior Ava Chavez placed second in the preliminary rounds in each of her individual events, led off two fourth-place freestyle relays, and broke three of her own school records to highlight St. Francis on the first day of swimming action at the CIF State Swimming & Diving Championships at Clovis Olympic Sports Complex Friday.

The future California Golden Bear finished first in the second heat and second overall in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of one minute, 47.84 seconds. This beat her week-old school record of 1:47.85 by the minimum increment, and put her behind only Santa Margarita's Asia Kozan (1:47.58). Chavez added another second-place showing in the 100 butterfly, swimming a 53.86.

Chavez then broke her own SF benchmarks in each of the 50 and 100 free, thanks to her leadoff splits in the two freestyle relays. She went 23.50 to start the 200 free relay squad of Erica Jaffe, Maddy Ching and LK Holliday to a fourth-place 1:36.37 – tying the Troubadour program record from last week's Sac-Joaquin Section championship finals. Finally, Chavez went 50.66 to lead off the 400 free relay, knocking a tenth from her own 100 free record. The Troubie foursome of Ching, Mering and Jaffe enter Saturday's final as the No. 4 seed, thanks to the 3:26.75.

Chavez was one of two individuals to earn second swims in Saturday's finals, as sophomore Erica Jaffe finished seventh in the 200 individual medley (2:02.11) followed by ninth in the 100 backstroke (55.68). Unfortunately for SF, Jaffe missed the cut for the championship by a mere .04. Calistoga senior and San Diego State commit Charlotte Sevin went 55.64 for that eighth spot.

Other highlights included junior Grace Mering, who enjoyed monster improvements on her seed times in each of the 200 IM and 100 back. Her 2.04.07 in the medley was more than sixth tenths faster than the 2:04.70 she went at the section championship, while the 57.28 in the backstroke was a 0.79 leap from her entering mark. Similarly, Ching lopped off more than a half second from her section 100 fly time of 56.02, touching home in 55.49 for 18th place on Friday.

The state meet consisted of diving events on Thursday, swimming prelims on Friday, then swimming finals on Saturday. St. Francis looks to improve from its program-best tie for eighth in last year's trip to Clovis. Saturday's events begin at 10:30 a.m.

2023 CIF STATE SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS, DAY 1
Clovis Olympic Sports Complex (Clovis West High School)
All events are prelims • Events with SFHS entrants only • Winners plus SFHS finishers listed

GIRLS' 200 MEDLEY RELAY - 1. Santa Margarita (O'Dell, Christensen, Stinson, Lin), 1:41.48... 22. St. Francis (Mering, Frederiksen, Larson, Holliday), 1:47.45.

GIRLS' 200 FREESTYLE - 1. Asia Kozan, Santa Margarita, 1:47.58... 2. Ava Chavez, 1:47.84 .

GIRLS' 200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY - 1. Teagan O'Dell, Santa Margarita, 1:55.04... 7. Erica Jaffe, 2:02.11; 23. Grace Mering, 2:04.70.

GIRLS' 100 BUTTERFLY - 1. Kelsey Zhang, Saratoga, 53.32... 2. Ava Chavez, 53.86; 18. Maddy Ching, 55.49.

GIRLS' 200 FREE RELAY - 1. Santa Margarita (O'Dell, Stinson, Kozan, Aquino), 1:13.19... 4. St. Francis (Chavez, Jaffe, Ching, Holliday), 1:35.37.

GIRLS' 100 BACKSTROKE - 1. Teagan O'Dell, Santa Margarita, 51.11... 9. Erica Jaffe, 55.68; 28. Grace Mering, 57.28.

GIRLS' 400 FREE RELAY - 1. Santa Margarita (Kozan, Lee, Lin, Aquino), 3:23.36... 4. St. Francis (Chacvez, Ching, Mering, Jaffe), 3:26.75.