After nearly a year without swimming an adjustment period in the preseason grind the Northwood Timerwolves were swim focused off the blocks for their first 2021 season swim meet win.  Photo courtesy of Alex Tolkachev.  

After nearly a year without swimming, an adjustment period in the preseason grind the Northwood Timberwolves were swim focused off the blocks against Irvine High School at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatic Center on Wednesday, April 24, 2021.  The story line was depth as the Timberwolves boys triumphed over the Vaqueros,137-33, and Lady T-Wolves securing a margin 104-66 over Irvine Vaqueros girls for a combined 241-99.

The white, navy blue and silver wasted no time fueled by the signature energy from all divisional squads their versatility and strength managed numerous Top-3 placements.

Arguably the most impressive aspect of this triumph for the Timberwolves was winning all five relays.  Securing every group event against some of the best high school swim teams in Orange County says a lot about Northwood's depth and team chemistry.

Northwood's girls collective impact sent a powerful message winning 8 of 11 events on the day, and earned a 1-0 start to their regular season.  The momentum throughout the meet was full of high-quality and high-intensity races delivering an impressive showing.  The Lady T-Wolves found their way all afternoon in the winning column, which culminated in swimming away with the victory.

Northwood's boys put up some contending times in several close title races but kept a widen points spread during the meet with seconds and thirds repetitively.  While Northwood's seniors lived up to the expectation, it was the underclassmen that punctuated some title wins as well.

“There was super high energy starting this high school swim season, so today was fun.  I would say my biggest takeaway would be that cheering each other on really has a huge impact on how fast we swim, and this environment is so incredible." said Head Coach Alex Nieto.   

Up next, Timberwolves face off against the Woodbridge Warriors in a dual on April 7th at the Woodbridge High School Aquatic Center (2:00 pm).

 

200 FREE

Norhwood's Open Girls Kaite Ho fired off a top time going 2:25.58.  Irvine's sisters Karin (2:33.84) and Mizuki (3:13.98) Takebayashi went 2-3.  Open Boys Andy Gao turned in a title win 2:10.30 with Aditya Rawat third 2:17.53.  Irvine's Gabriel Gutierrez posted second (2:14.31).  JV Girls Galia Diaz-Montoya (2:15.47) and Kacy Kesler (2:20.07) went 1-2 in the event.  Irvine's Milan Nuttall rounded third (2:24.26).  Michael Abshier (1:51.51), Benton Cheng (1:57.82) and Evan Eich (2:04.66) didn't disappoint as they produced a triple win for the JV Boys.  The Lady T-Wolves showed real depth with sweeping the top three with Katerina Tolkachev (2:01.59), Tanya Ahmed (2:07.79) and Addison Cadena (2:08.62).  Northwood's Varsity Boys blasted a commanding sweep in the 200 Free event with Zachary Waddell finishing well ahead in 1:48.84.  Second went to Nolan Chomin in 1:49.87, the third fastest swim was locked down by Rjad Ceranic with 1:57.63.

100 IM

Northwood's Open Girls took the top-2 spots in the 100 IM providing some momentum with Rachel Yokota (1:14.04) and Daniella Ela (1:14.53).  Irvine's Anna Wichems rounded third (1:23.73). In the Open Boys race, Northwood put in another triple sweep Ethan Chen (58.70), Jalen Hsia (1:10.69) and Colin Pham who held on to a third in a time of 1:11.90.  

200 IM

The JV Girls were right in the thick of the battle with Vivian Guo (2:28.73) and Samin Shahrabian (2:43.55) producing a 2-3 placement with the fastest time from Irvine's Addison Boomsma touching 2:26.44.  In the JV Boys, Gavin Lai had the fastest time of 2:18.31 over Brandon Cho's 2:25.18 touch for second. Grant Lai tracked behind closing third in 2:25.94.  Varsity Girls sophomore Acile Jammoul go out to an early lead and continued to build, over the second half of the race winning in 1:48.84.  Kim Huynh was next in line with 1:49.87, while Genevieve Chomin round out the top three touching in 1:57.63.  Varsity Boys shaped up with some speed and depth sweeping the 200 IM.  They lead a field that includes Elson Lee (1:59.68), Ryan Connole (2:01.04), and Eric Zhu (2:09.76). 

50 Free

The Open Girls showed real strength with two finishing in the top three with Lilly Zhao taking the second in 32.07, and Audrey Li stopping the watch for third in 35.59.  Irvine's Macy Nuttall raced to a top finish with 31.23.  All three Northwood Open Boys came out on top for a triple win in the 50 Free.  Andrew Kim (27.89), Aditya Rawat (28.07), and Mengshu Zhang (28.94) delivered a strong showing for the Timberwolves.  JV Girls Kaitlyn Kong stormed out to an early lead holding a winning time of 27.66.  Emillie Harper registered a swift 31.32 for third.  Irvine's Lucy Shen posted second 31.01.  The JV Boys added a triple win of excitement with Aaron Kim (24.64), Justin Chung (24.84) and Oliver Allen (25.43) who opened a sizable advantage for their division.  Varsity Lady T-Wolf Lauren Kim registered the fastest time in 25.71, while teammate Taylor Inouye prevailied with a third (26.46). Irvine's Sloane McCahill checked in for second (25.95).  The Varsity Boys 50 Free saw the top three contenders under 24 seconds. Junior Younghun Kim had the lightning-fast touch, winning the race in 22.98.  Behind him Colman Sun (23.22) just out-touched Henry Chen with a 23.36 for third.

50 Fly

Open Boys Joshua Bonode (30.84) and Andy Kim (34.31) went 1-2 in the event.  Irvine's Nicholas Martinez charted a time of 37.75 rounding third..

100 Fly

Galia Diaz-Montoya raced to a quick finish touching the wall with 1:07.78 for the JV Girls win.  Ainsley Zapata (1:12.91) tracked behind her closing second in 1:12.91, and Irvine's Laura Bui (1:24.30) prevailed with a third.  Sophomore Ryan Xu highlighted the JV Boys, blasting a 57.60 to pick up the win over Evan Eich (1:05.90) closing second.  Northwood's Michael Li closed out third in 1:06.82.  Varsity Girls Helena Zhou clocked a 1:04.20 for third in the event, while Irvine's Alexia Duncan (1:00.15) and Hannah Jin (1:01.62) went 1-2.  Varsity sophomore Christopher Leung took the top spot with a fast 100 Fly to win a 51.62 punch to the wall.  Touching just behind him was fellow compatriot Ryley Yoo putting in a strong 54.81 for second.  Danny Kim picked up third place in 56.39.

100 Free

Open Girls went lights out showing real depth with two finishing in the top two in this race with Melissa Lam (1:02.47), and Rachel Yokota (1:05.45) for second.  Irvine's Anna Wichema rounded third in 1:15.56.  Northwood's Open Boys Gabriel Gutierrez jumped out to an early lead and never relented at the 50 turn (26.23), then stretched out for the touch winning in 54.93.  Teammate Corey Okamoto touched third in 59.53, while Irvine's Gabriel Gutierrez took second in 58.20.  The JV Girls were a tight race throughout, with Kaitlyn Kong taking the victory in 1:01.27, while Sarah Hsu put in a strong 1:03.04 for second.  Third place went to Vivian Guo who checked in at 1:03.21.  Northwood's JV Boys swept the 100 Free with Andrew Harper (54.39), Andrew Zhang (55.08), and Justin Chung gunning for third touch in 56.97.  Right in the thick of the battle Varsity Girls sophomore Kim Huynh narrowly won the 100 Free by .06 hundredths clocking in at 56.48, over Irvine's Sloane McCahill (57.08).  Junior Lauren Kim rounded third in 58.84.  The Varsity Boys performed a trifecta of their own in the 100 Free, with Younghun Kim putting in a strong 50.10 for first.  Kenneth Duong took second in 50.12, while Rijad Ceranic (52.29) was third.  

500 Free

Lady T-Wolves Charlotte Waddell made a huge charge in the back half of the JV Girls 500 Free for the win in 6:14.60.  Teammate Zoe Liu rounded out the top three touching in 6:22.64.  Irvine's Josephine Lee in for second (6:20.70).   Northwood's JV Boys won the 500 Free with excellent depth from double winner Michael Abshier, who won in 5:07.00.  Benton Cheng concluded his individuals with a second place for the Timberwolves in 5:14.11, while Irvine's Hinata Ikagawa ended third with 5:52.60.  Katerina Tolkachev completed her individual event of the meet as a winner, consistently powered away from the field, controlling the race from the get-go to win in 5:21.46.  Teammate Addison Cadena took third in 5:22.23.  Second place was Irvine's Allyson Kusuma who went 5:22.23.  Northwood Varsity Boys Zachary Waddell clocked a 4:51.06 to win the event while teammate Kevin Hong touching second in 5:13.29.  Irvine's Brendan Cook was third in 5:22.56.

50 Back

Open Girls Audrey Li added a second place showing with 43.71.  Irvine's Macy Nuttall put in the victory (37.52).  Siya Madan rounded third (51.00).  Freshman Jalen Hsia battled throughout the Open Boys 50 Back finishing first in 31.28.  Hsia edged out Irvine's Maximillian Nuttall (32.67), while Colin Pham was third in 35.14.  

100 Back

Northwood senior Cindy Le was dominant in the JV Girls 100 Back, crushing the field in 1:15.82.  The battle for second went to Samin Shahrabian (1:16.66), while Ainsley Zapata rounded third in 1:21.80. The JV Boys won more accolades by sealing a triple sweep with Kendrick Pham (58.01), Daivik Patel (1:02.48), and Gavin Lai (1:02.63).   In the Varsity Girls, Genevieve Chomin marked third in 1:01.74.  Irvine's sisters Aurora Duncan (1:00.18) and Alexia Duncan (1:01.51 went 1-2.  Sophomore Christopher Leung concluded his two title wins in the 100 Back providing the top time in 55.07 for the Varsity Boys. Juniors Nolan Chomin (56.97) and Danny Kim (1:00.98) went 1-2.

50 Breast

Northwood Open Boys Gavin Lee clocked a 32.55 to win the event while teammate Andy Gao took second a 34.40.  Johan Lamm closed out third in 38.27.

100 Breast

Northwood's JV Girls leveraged a third with Sarah Hsu finishing in 1:26.79.  Irvine's Addison Boomsma (1:15.82) and Samantha Lai (1:26.36) went 1-2.  The afternoon saw another triple sweep from Northwood JV Boys in the 100 Breast that included Anthony Foo (1:05.50), Grant Lai (1:08.40), and Josue Olague (1:10.45).  Taylor Inouye highlighted the Varsity Girls side, blasting a 1:10.33 to pick up the win.  Irvine's Isabella Wall went second in 1:18.38, while third runner-up Arianna Carter pulled up in 1:19.80.  Timberwolves Varsity Boys were able to close out their individual events with domination from Ben Liu (1:01.11), Eric Zhu (1:01.34) and Colman Sun (1:03.65).

Relays
Open Girls 200 Medley -  1st place  2:15.25  Daniella Ela (34.93), Rachel Yokota (39.77), Katie Ho (32.42), Melissa Lam (28.13)
                                     -  3rd place  2:42.95  Lilly Zhao (38.34), Katrina Estrada (58.47), Nicole Karraa (35.34), Emma McDowell (30.80)
Open Boys 200 Medley -  1st place  2:01.18  Jalen Hsia (32.11), Gavin Lee (32.34), Johan Lamm (29.85), Corey Okamoto (26.88)
                                      -  2nd place  2:02.03  Andrew Kim (29.33), Andy Gao (34.73), Mengshu Zhang (30.78), Joshua Bonode (27.19)
JV Girls 200 Medley -  1st place  2:08.55  Emilie Harper (33.39), Sarah Hsu (38.67), Galia Diaz-Montoya (29.52), Kaitlyn Kong (26.97)
                                -  2nd place  2:11.95  Samin Shahrabian (35.55), Zoe Liu (33.43), Claire Cho (32.73), Charlotte Waddell (30.24)
JV Boys 200 Medley -  1st place  1:50.32  Gavin Lai (28.98), Grant Lai (30.73), Ryan Xu (25.02), Oliver Allen (25.59)
                                 -  2nd place  1:54.29  Anthony Foo (30.22), Josue Olague (31.42), Aaron Kim (28.26), Andrew harper (24.39)
Varsity Girls 200 Medley  -  1st place  1:54.96  Avery Liu (28.82), Taylor Inouye (32.14), Helena Zhou (28.77), Lauren Kim (25.23)
Varsity Boys 200 Medley -  1st place  1:40.62  Christopher Leung (25.05), Eric Zhu (28.14),  Younghun Kim (24.58), Kenneth Duong (22.85)
                                       -  2nd place  1:47.73  Nolan Chomin (27.19), Ben Liu (33.48), Ryley Yoo (24.77), Henry Chen (22.29)
Open Girls 200 Free -  1st place  1:58.79  Daniella Ela (28.99), Katie Ho (29.02), Rachel Yokota (31.46), Melissa Lam (29.32)