July 25, 2006 > Cudas defeat Drowning Darryls

by Praveena Raman

It is nice to be Southern Division Champions for eight consecutive years but it is nicer to also defeat the Northern Division Champions in dual meets.  Fremont's Mission Valley Barracudas did just that even losing many of their older swimmers to a water polo match.  The sweltering heat did not dampen the spirits of the two teams.  The snack shack had a brisk business selling salads, nachos, baked potatoes and more.  Tom Banks fired up the grill (literally) and added to the business.  The most popular drink of the day was water!

Even though it was not the best day for most of the Cudas in improving their swimming times, some made their mark and contributed to the team's success.  According to Cuda coach Don French "It is not all about winning.  It is about setting goals, improving, and building character."  The meet ended with the swimmers dunking their favorite coach Don. "It was a wonderful season," says Don. "With more than one third of the team being new swimmers, we were not sure of how this season would go and whether these new swimmers would be able to contribute."  It turned out well for the Cudas. They will be going into the Championships next Saturday as the favored team.  In close running are the Fremont Glenmoor Stingrays and the San Leandro Drowning Darryls.

The following swimmers improved their times in three of their individual events: Girls - Joanne Chin, Sarah Lucarell and, Brianna Hu; Boys - Issac Wu and David Clark.

The following swimmers improved their times in at least one of their events: Girls - Anna Ansari, Emily Banks, Laura Bean, Rachel Bean, Sarah Chang, Amber Chiang, Ashley Chen, Gabriela Cordova, Laura Conn, Morgan Holbrook, Taylor Holbrook, Elizabeth Hu, Tiffany Liu, Tuesday Jensen, Kara Jeffrey, Alison Lucarelli, Juliana McCuaig, Claire McLaggan, Amelai Miller, Courtney Moltzen, Jill Mukai, Kelsey Mukai, Erika Olsen, Gerilyn Olsen, Hannah Scobel, Ada Wong, Hesper Wu, Bethany Wu, Amy Xia, Shelley Xia, Jessica Yang, Tiffany Yen and Sherri Zhang.

Boys - George Chen, Henry Chen, Steven Chi, Misha Galant, Emil Graversen, Adam Hancock, Alex Hancock, Kieren Hassett, Dylan Jeffrey, Stephen Jeffrey, Andy Lau, Jason Lau, Jonathan Leung, Benjamin Liu, Bryce McLaggan, Mark Perry, Billy Purta, Kyle Quock, Karthik Raman, Brian Wheeler, Jesse Wheeler, Jerry Wong, Ethan Wong,  Jasper Wu and Kekoa Wu.

The following swimmers had a significant improvement in their IM times: Shelley Xia (6.51) and Tuesday Jensen (3.31).

The East Bay Swim League Championships will be held at Chabot College, on Saturday July 29 from 8:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. 1200 swimmers from 12 teams (five from Fremont, one from Newark, two from Hayward, two from Castro Valley, and two from San Leandro) will be competing against each other in what promises to be lots of fun for all.