Facing off against Portola High School, the Timberwolves showed off their deep talented roster swept all three relays and took two league victories.  Photo courtesy of Alex Tolkachev.

The Northwood Timberwolves, now at full strength with a returning roster punctuated a strong day of swimming with a decisive showing against Portola High School.  There were many bright spots for the Timberwolves under the overcast skies as a deep talented roster swept all three relays and took two league victories as part of a duel meet on Wednesday, March 16, 2022 at the Northwood High School Aquatic Center.

The Timberwolves boys defeated the Bulldogs by a score of 116-68.  The Lady T-Wolves had an impressive showing against Portola registering a win of their own 95-89.  

“From a racing perspective this meet helped us to see where we are as a team, and the progression that the team is making," said Head Coach Alex Nieto.  "We are making sure that we're doing things right every day, that we're valuing that, versus valuing performance right now."

With a talented freshman class, an accomplished returning group and a dedicated coaching staff, there is undoubtedly a lot of excitement around the pool at Northwood High School.

Next stop, the Timberwolves are defending the den at the Northwood High School Aquatic Center to compete against Beckman High School at home on Tuesday, March 23, 2022 (3:30pm).

200 FREE

Open Boys helped lead the charge in the 200 Free with Gavin Dang surging to the wall first in 2:05.25.  Portola's Gus Alvarado-Rivera took second in 2:09.64, while Neil Godse held onto third (2:12.72).  JV Girls saw a tight battle between Ashley Huynh (2:11.87) and Portola's Serena Wang (2:12.63).  Huynh turned at the first 100 in 19 seconds ahead eventually winning the event in the 1-2 finish.  Melissa Lam raced for third in 2:20.46.  Shervin Shahriary began the meet for the JV Boys posting second place in his division at 1:59.04.  Portola's Velco Lai (1:57.11) and Justin Witt (2:02.84) went 1-3.  Lady T-Wolf Carolyn Nguyen checked in with a second place time for the Varsity Girls in 1:58.73.  Portola's Abby Miller took first in 1:57.72, while Renee Yasuda stretched to touch in 1:58.81 for third.  For the Varsity Boys senior Nolan Chomin sealed second place in 1:47.123.  Portola's Mike Chen took the top time in 1:44.91, while Elson Lee touched third (1:47.46). 

100 IM

Freshman Neeki Etefagh came through for the Open Girls taking second in 1:23.89.  Portola teammates Lizzie Wu (1:20.03) and Ademi Malik (1:26.18)  turned in a 1-3.  Freshman Trevor Cheng came through for the Open Boys to take the top time overall in 1:05.88.  Closing hard behind Portola's Elijah Saito (1:07.78), and Stephen Dee (1:08.69).  

200 IM

Northwood JV Girls Rachel Yokota registered the third fastest time in 2:36.29.  Portola's Emma Suh touched first in 2:32.02, while Tessa Trieu rounded third (2:34.42).  Freshman Louis Gaigneux secured a second place showing in the JV Boys 200 IM going 2:14.44.  Portola's Ethan Ouyeung marked the top time in 2:11.54, while his teammate Ethan Thieu touched third at 2:14.67. Lady T-Wolf Taylor Inouye stretched to the touch in 2:13.27 for second.  Portola's Kiana Fan registered the fastest time in 2:12.04, while Corina Lee took third in 2:14.72.  Varsity Boys senior Derek Hitchens touched the first wall out in 25.24, with teammate Ryan Connole second, and Will Chen third.  With the breaststroke leg to sort the field, Hitchens still held onto first coming into the final wall at 1:58.70 over Connole (2:00.29) and Chen (2:01.16).

50 Free

Junior Nicole Karraa powered in a 32.21 for second in the Open Girls 50 Free.  Portola's Maya Godett won the event in 32.13, while Samantha Gu tracked down third with a 38.92. In the Open Boys Ethan Cheung delivered a second as he touched the wall in 25.60, while Corey Okamoto rounded third (26.59).  Portola's Ethan Cherry took the top time in 27.90.  Freshman Nina Elias proved to be the fastest JV Girls in the pool for the 50 Free, posting the top time in 28.55.  Portola's Rosha Javanmardi followed with second (29.17), while Sarah Liu rounds third in 30.39.  The Northwood JV Boys showed real depth with Evan Eich taking first in 23.88.  Portola's Luke Porter touched second (26.26) and Andrew Harper third (24.49).  Varsity Girl's Lauren Kim contributed a second for the Timberwolves with a time of 25.74.  Portola's Alliya Fan touched first in 25.30, and Gabrielle Lan 26.13 for third.  Timberwolves Christopher Leung showed his top-end sprint talent as he blew out the Varsity Boys 50 Free in 21.32.  Portola's Luke Porter (24.33), and Nathan Hahn ended 2-3.    

50 Fly

Good vibes coming from freshman Ayu Hayashi who picked up a second place finish in the Open Girls 50 Fly (36.07).  Jojo Nguyen (35.74) took the first, while Alondra Troncoso-Barajas joined her for third in 41.03.  Freshman Gavin Dang didn't disappoint as he produced a top time 28.70 for the Open Boys.  Portola's Cody Le put up a 29.06 for second in the group, while Peter Li for third in 29.50.    

100 Fly

Among other notable performances on the JV Girls side included Yosra Elseifi touched the wall in 1:08.98 for second.  Sloane DeTorres delivered the win for Portola in 1:08.39.  Galia Diaz-Montoya took third in 1:11.89.  Timberwolves William Chen battled throughout the JV Boys 100 Fly finishing second in 1:00.38.  Portola's Logan Dinh took the victory in 59.64, while Calvin Nguyen held third  in 1:01.68.  In the Varsity Girls 100 Fly, Carolyn Nguyen (1:00.48) showed her butterfly talent touching in for third.  Portola's Sopha Sim registered the fastest time in 57.77, while teammate Allyah Fan in for second (58.07).  Timberwolves Younghun Kim (52.02) went lights out taking the win over Portola's Ben Kim (52.30).  Nathan Hahn clocked third in 52.82.  

100 Free

Northwood's Ayu Hayashi checked in with a second place time for the Open Girls in 1:15.20.  Portola's Finn Sapeta took first in 1:08.56, while Ademi Malik rounded third in 1:16.48. Northwood's Open Boys Corey Okamoto left nothing to chance, surging to first in the field with a 58.18 on a personal best finish dropping 1.41 seconds.  Portola's Tommy Narvett clocked in for second (1:01.70), while Parsa Karimi rounded third (1:03.92).  JV Girls Sarah Hsu launched a quick start and opened up a lead winning in 1:01.74 for the Timberwolves.  Sophomore Nur Yildiz posted a second place showing in 1:04.84, while Portola's Isabella Cervantes followed with 1:05.01 for third.  Long-axis strokes and strong flutter kicks provided Brandon Chu in taking the 100 free in 51.47 for the JV Boys.  Gavin Lai took second in 51.51, while Portola's Leo Xu claimed third in 51.89.  After building a lead heading into the first turn Northwood sophomore Kim Huynh provided the win for the Varsity Girls in 54.40.  Acile Jammoul took second with 55.49, while Portola's Tiffany Kim picked up third in 56.06.  Senior Younghun Kim pushed through and got second for the Varsity Boys 100 Free, but he was challenged the entire way with freshman Derek Hitchens right on his heels for third (48.85).  Portola's Mike Chen won the event in 47.36.  

500 Free

Northwood's Yosra Elseifi finished well ahead in the JV Girls 500 Free going out fast and building a sizable lead capturing first in 5:44.55.  Teammate Ashley Huynh notched second in 5:59.99, while Portola's Emma Suh for third in this event (6:00.94).  It was a positive end to the meet for Varsity Girls Yufei Chen (5:31.49) who was the third quickest competitor in the 500 Free.  Portola's Abby Miller took first in 5:17.94, while Renee Yasuda registered second in 1:22.06.  All three Northwood Varsity Boys came out on top for a triple win in the 500 Free.  Michael Abshier (4:50.20), Will Chen (4:54.65) and Benton Cheng (5:01.61) delivered a strong showing for Northwood.

50 Back

Open Girl's Henna Cook took a victory by winning the 50 Back (35.48), and her teammate Ahyun Lee pulled in for third with 40.44.  Northwood's Stephen Dee locked down the top time for the Open Boys 50 Back sprinting a 29.70.  Portola's Elijah Salito locked a 32.29 for second, while Bryce Yee rounded third in 33.67.  

100 Back

The third place individual win in the JV Girls came from Northwood's Claire Cho who swam a 1:12.96.  Portola's Serena Wang topped the event in 1:11.01, while her teammate Tessa Trieu touched second in 1:11.93. Northwood sophomore Gavin Lai was the quickest competitor in the JV Boys 100 Back this afternoon.  He was out in 28.96 at the 50, and held off a charging Nathan Kang (1:00.31) to the wall at the finish.  Jimmy Chen rounded third in 1:01.24.  Lady T-Wolf senior Avery Liu battled throughout the Varsity Girls 100 Back finishing third in 1:01.11.  Sophie Sim took the event in 59.87, while Kiana Fan claimed second (1:00.87).  On the Varsity Boys side it was Christopher Leung producing an eye popping 54.98 for the Northwood victory with teammate Nolan Chomin (56.65) for third.  Portola's Malcolm registered second (56.39).  

50 Breast

In the Open Girls Aithal Shreya took the second position with a solid 42.92.  Portola's Lizzie Wu won the the event in 42.92, while Michelle Wu recorded third in 43.28. Sophomore Ethan Cheung sealed a first place turning in a 33.46 for Northwood Open Boys.  Portola's Mathew Park produced a second place time in 34.73, while Josh Knapp rounded third in 36.30.

100 Breast

The talent pool in Northwood's JV Girls is deep, and it showed with Nina Elias posting a 1:18.18 under an extremely tight battle with teammate Rachel Yokota who came out second in 1:21.73.  Portola's Kristy So slipped in third with 1:21.94.  A good match up in the JV Boys between Portola's Julian Barnes and William Chen.  The two were tracking each other the entire way, but Barnes was able to touch his hand on the wall first with a 1:05.66 to Chen's 1:06.94.  Sophomore Andy Gao snared third in 1:07.71.  Junior Taylor Inouye leveraged a quick front half to earn a respectable top time for the Varsity Girls 100 Breast (1:07.96).  Corina Lee took second in 1:09.35, followed with Portola's Elise Sullivan for third (1:09.36).  Ryan Connole made it look easy taking it out in 28.90 at the 50 mark, and dominating the Varsity Boys 100 Breast with a 1:00.89.  The biggest challenger came from Portola's Taisho Shiono clocking a 1:01.38 for second, followed by Ethan Hsu recorded a 1:03.34 for third.  

Relays
Open Girls 200 Medley -  2nd place  2:25.13  Henna Cook (35.03), Shreya Althal (42.50), Ayu Hayashi (51.43), Nicole Karraa (32.37)
                                       -  3rd place  2:39.00  Neeki Ettefagh (39.42), Katrina Estrada (44.62), Ahyun Lee (41.45), Chloe Tsai (33.51)
Open Boys 200 Medley -  1st place  1:56.85  Stephen Dee (29.30), Ethan Cheung (32.92), Trevor Cheng (28.30), Corey Okamoto (26.33)
JV Girls 200 Medley -  3rd place  2:05.77  Claire Cho (33.92), Nina Elias (35.48), Galia Diaz-Montoya (29.76), Ashley Huynh (26.61)
JV Boys 200 Medley -  1st place  1:47.04  Brandon Cho (28.14), William Chen (30.19), Gavin Lai (25.86), Evan Eich (22.85)
Varsity Girls 200 Medley  -  3rd place  1:51.17  Avery Liu (28.27), Taylor Inouye (31.06), Carolyn Nguyen (26.76), Lauren Kim (25.08)
Varsity Boys 200 Medley -  1st place  1:37.95  Christopher Leung (23.59), Ryan Connole (28.25), Younghun Kim (23.34), Kevin Hong (22.77)