From Wednesday, April 29, to Friday, May 1, both the girls’ and boys’ swim teams competed in the Peninsula Athletic League (PAL) Bay Division Championship. Varsity girls placed fourth overall, while varsity boys finished fifth.

It’s been three years since Burlingame hosted PALs at home due to gym construction, which brings more competition to the team’s home turf. Swim co-coach Stephanie Lee said it was exciting to see the pool being used for such a big event.

“Seeing the pool being used in a PAL event was awesome. And we got a lot of people just saying, it looked just so great out on the pool, a lot of red, and it was used how it should be used,” Lee said.

During PAL finals on May 1, juniors Justin Chiang, Alexa Chang, and Ben Gilbert had standout performances, including event wins, new school records, and broken meet records.

Though the boys’ side has not performed outstandingly this season, they have had one major advantage. Junior Ben Gilbert transferred to Burlingame this year, and he has been the key to successful meets in the second half of the season. In PAL finals, Gilbert not only won the boys’ 100-yard butterfly but broke the meet record in a time of 49.90, while placing third in the 200-yard freestyle and going his best time yet.

“It’s a really cool opportunity to be able to show up to PALs and go to CCS, because most people don’t get that opportunity. And so, I just try and make the most of it,” Gilbert said. “And I just try and have the most fun I can while also being able to support my teammates.”

To carry the momentum from PALs into CCS, Gilbert is keeping a strong mentality to achieve his goals through the rest of the season.

“Going that best time really helped motivate me, and it’s probably going to actually help me go faster in CCS, because when I’m reading all of the times and I see that they’re all kind of faster than me, it kind of gives me this gut feeling that I gotta rip it. I gotta go as fast as I can.” Gilbert said.

On the girls’ side, junior Alexa Chang, along with her sister, freshman Kayla Chang, has been a strong contributor to the team. Alexa Chang won the girls’ 100-yard backstroke, establishing herself as the back-to-back PAL Bay Division champion, while also breaking the meet record and her school record in a new best time of 55.14.

For Alexa Chang, swimming with her younger sister is what drives her to perform her best.

“It’s really fun to swim with her, because she gives me really good competition for this one event that we’re both good at, and we like to banter a lot, which is pretty funny,” Alexa Chang said.

Another one of the highest performers during PALs was junior Justin Chiang. Chiang won both the boys’ 50-yard freestyle and the boys’ 100-yard freestyle, and broke meet records in the process.

Alexa Chang noted that the team has amazing spirit, and the environment during meets has been what encourages not only Burlingame but other teams as well.

“We’re doing pretty well. I know that we’re not the strongest team, but I think that we have really good team spirit. Every time that I show up for a relay or see people racing, there’s always people behind the lane and cheering, and I think it’s a really fun environment to be in,” Alexa Chang said.

With CCS on the horizon, the qualified swimmers, such as Alexa Chang and Kayla Chang, senior Catherine Kwong, sophomore Abby Zarahn on the girls’ side, and junior Samuel Foo, Gilbert, and Chiang on the boys’ side, are motivated to swim their best during CCS. Aside from individually qualified swimmers, relay teams from both the girls’ and boys’ sides are qualified for CCS and will be attending.

“The ones that qualified for CCS will be super motivated, because they all dropped times. So they’re all coming off the best swims that they’ve ever had in their life, and now they get to go and swim against even more elite competition, and so that’s just going to push them to do even better. So I’m sure they’re super pumped about it.” Kreppel said.

Swim competed at the Central Coast Section (CCS) Championships against teams from across the Bay Area on Thursday, May 7, through Saturday, May 9, at Independence High School in San Jose.

April 23 Senior Night Meet