CLOVIS, Calif. – Senior Ava Chavez finished second in each of her two individual events and helped the two freestyle relays to school records, leading St. Francis swimming to a team-best sixth-place finish at the CIF State Championships, hosted a Clovis Olympics Swim Complex Saturday afternoon.

The Troubadours finished with 117 team points, precisely matching their expected total going into the meet. Santa Margarita won its fourth straight girls' title with 263 points, well ahead of second-place Campolindo (159). Monte Vista (136), Davis (125) and Carondelet (123) completed the top five, while St. Francis had a nearly 40-point edge on its seventh-place hosts, Clovis West (79).

Chavez broke her 200 free school record for the third straight week, finishing with a time of one minute, 1:47.42. She previously won the Sac-Joaquin Section title with a 1:47.85, then eclipsed that by a hundredth of a second in Friday's preliminary heat. Soon after, Chavez runnered-up in the 100 fly with a 53.67, less than a tenth off her own Troubie benchmark of 53.58 from the section prelims.

The 200 free relay of Chavez, Erica Jaffe, Maddy Ching and LK Holliday followed with a third-place 1:34.75, resetting the school record by more than a half second and –perhaps more importantly – improving on the No. 4 seed to pick up a couple extra team points in the process. The previous school record was 1:35.37, oddly hit in back-to-back meets: the SJS final and Friday's state prelims.

The 400 free relay squad of Chavez, Ching, Grace Mering and Jaffe closed out the meet with a fourth-place time of 3:25.31, 1.44 seconds faster than Friday's qualifying time and nearly a full second ahead of the old St. Francis record of 3:26.26, set by the same crew at the 2022 state meet. Furthermore, Chavez reset her own school 100 free record with a 50.49 leadoff split, knocking off the 50.66 set less than a day earlier.

Jaffe scored in two events on her own, placing seventh in the 200 individual medley at 2:02.41, then winning the consolation final in the 100 back at 55.52. She trailed 10th place Caitlin Quill (52.56) at the midway mark but swam a 28.51 second lap to Quill's 28.81.

The state championship meet closes out a historic 2023 season for the Troubadours, which won their first section title in 12 years and their first league championship since 2015 under the tutelage of second-year head coach Brian Nabeta. A total of eight school records fell this year, including four by Chavez (200 free, 100 fly, 50 free, 100 free) and two by Jaffe (200 IM, 100 back). St. Francis also scored dual wins against fellow state powers Davis and Carondelet during the season. Finally, four Troubie seniors have committed to swim for collegiate programs next year: Chavez (Cal), Ching (UC Davis), Greta Laborde Lagrave (CSU Pueblo) and Jordyn Larson (Pepperdine).

2023 CIF STATE SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS, DAY 2
Clovis Olympic Sports Complex (Clovis West High School)
All events are finals • Events with SFHS entrants only • Winners plus SFHS finishers listed

GIRLS'  TEAM SCORES (Top 10 only) - 1. Santa Margarita, 263; 2. Campolindo, 159; 3. Monte Vista, 136; 4. Davis, 125; 5. Carondelet, 123; 6. St. Francis, 117; 7. Clovis West, 79; 8. San Ramon Valley, 63; 9. Hart, 59; 10 (tie). Woodside, Castilleja, 42.

GIRLS' 200 FREESTYLE - 1. Asia Kozan, Santa Margarita, 1:46.02... 2. Ava Chavez, 1:47.42.

GIRLS' 200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY - 1. Teagan O'Dell, Santa Margarita 1:53.38... 7. Erica Jaffe, 2:02.41.

GIRLS' 100 BUTTERFLY - 1. Kelsey Zhang, Saratoga, 52.94... 2. Ava Chavez, 53.67

GIRLS' 200 FREE RELAY - 1. Santa Margarita (O'Dell, Stinson, Kozan, Aquino), 1:30.90... 4. St. Francis (Chavez, Jaffe, Ching, Holliday), 1:34.75.

GIRLS' 100 BACKSTROKE - 1. Teagan O'Dell, Santa Margarita, 50.96... 9. Erica Jaffe, 55.52.

GIRLS' 400 FREE RELAY - 1. Santa Margarita (Kozan, Lee, Lin, Aquino), 3:22.62... 4. St. Francis (Chavez, Ching, Mering, Jaffe), 3:25.25.