GRANITE BAY, Calif. – Senior Erica Jaffe finished third in the 200-yard indivdual medley then placed first in the 100 backstroke to lead a trio of St. Francis advancers in each event, highlighting Day 1 of the Sierra Foothill League swimming championships at Granite Bay High School.

Thursday's session featured girls' varsity and junior varsity events, with the top performers moving on to Saturday's overall league finals. The boys have their prelim session on Friday, while the divers concluded their portion of the SFL championship at Whitney on Tuesday.

Jaffe touched home with a time of two minutes, 9.13 seconds in the 200 IM; then  dominated the field with a 56.92 in the 100 back – the latter leading the event by more than two full seconds. Joining Jaffe in the 200 IM final are seniors Marissa Recio and Mia Hill, who placed fourth (2:09.91) and fifth (2:10.40), respectively. Sophomore Landen Didriksen nabbed the final spot of the consolation final, giving St. Francis four possible scorers in the team points total.

Additionally, joining Jaffe in the 100 back were seniors Isabelle Schimd in third (59.72) and Lexie DeAngelis in fifth (1:00.46), meaning the three Troubies will swim side-by-side-by-side in Lanes 2 through 4 during the Saturday championship.

St. Francis also advanced three swimmers to either the 'A' championship heat or 'B' consols in the two sprint freestyle events. Sophomore Lilla Kapinya led the Troubies in each, with a fourth-place 24.54 in the 50 and sixth-place 54.68 in the 100. DeAngelis and Madeline Kann took 11th and 12th on Thursday to earn second swims in the 50 consols, with Hill and Kann continuing onto Saturday in the 100. Hill finished seventh at 54.91 to join Kapyina in the championship race.

Schmid and Recio will appear in 'A' races on Saturday in their respective events: Schmid placed sixth in the 200 free (1:56.29), Recio went fourth in the 500 free (5:09.10).

Jaffe (UCLA), Recio (Fresno State), Hill (St. Bonaventure) and Schmid (Cal Poly) each earned fall commitments to swim at respective NCAA Division I collegiate programs, although Cal Poly announced that it discontinued the sport later in the school year.

Thursday's session also included junior varsity events, with sophomore Meredith Little earning multiple second swims: she placed sixth in the 50 free and third in the 100 fly. Sophomore Savannah Hamilton matched the feat of two 'A' finals berths, finishing seventh in each of the longer freestyle efvents; as did freshman Lena Moggan, who took fifth in the 200 free and fourth in the 100 back; and freshman Emma Dietrich, eighth in the 200 free and sixth in the 500 free.

Saturday's session, consisting of both boys' and girls' finals, begins at 10 a.m. at GBHS. It will also mark the first year of an additional bonus final to follow the championship final in each event.