Sonoma boys splendidly swim to SCL title

In dramatic fashion, the Sonoma Valley High School varsity boy swimmers battled defending Sonoma County League champion Analy down to the final event of Friday’s SCL championship meet at the Petaluma Swim Center before finally putting an end to a long title drought.

After going unbeaten in all five dual meets, the young Dragon boys – with one lone senior, Rick Taggesell, on the squad – turned in an impressive team effort in edging Analy in the meet finale, the 400-yard freestyle relay, which earned them both a 387-373 triumph and the elusive SCL title.

The Dragons had one individual event champion as freshman Dominic Tommasi captured the SCL boys 100-yard butterfly title in 56.87 seconds, while finishing second in the boys 200 individual medley (IM) in 2 minutes, 13.36 seconds.

Sonoma swept all three relay events, including the winning 400 free relay team of Taggesell, Tommasi, junior Cian Lacy and sophomore Jackson Mighell in 3:32.09, which was a North Coast Section consideration time; the victorious 200 medley relay team of Lacy, Tommasi and juniors Jack Lewis and Max Shepard in 1:59.5; and the triumphant 200 free relay team of Taggesell, Shepard, Mighell and sophomore Owen Summers in 1:42.74.

Along with Tommasi and the relay teams, the Dragon boys were led to the SCL crown by Taggesell’s 200 free second-place finish in 1:59.25 and 100 backstroke third in 1:06.60; Lacy’s 50 and 100 free second places in 24.29 and 53.43, respectively; Summers 100 breast-stroke second in 1:10.39 and 200 free fourth in 2:02.23; Lewis’ 100 breast third in 1:10.7 and 500 free fourth in 6:08.98; Shepard’s 100 back fifth in 1:11.04; frosh Nathaniel Silva’s 100 fly and 200 IM fifths in 1:07.18 and 2:29.73, respectively; and frosh Andrew McGrath’s 500 free fifth in 7:01.1.

It was a reversal of finishes for the two longtime rival schools in the SCL girls’ championship meet, where powerful defending champion Analy soundly defeated the second-place, and also young, Lady Dragons by a 616-358 margin.

Sonoma had one event-winning girl as frosh Quinn Jensen cruised to the girls SCL 50 free title in 25.67, while taking a 100 free second-place finish in 55.34 and earning an NCS consideration time.

Also pacing the Lady Dragons were the second-place 200 medley relay team of Jensen, sophomore Cameron Taggesell, and frosh Abby Parr and Hannah Ladouceur in 2:03.59, which is an NCS consideration time; the second-place 200 free relay team of senior Amanda Ramponi, junior Natalie Baker, and frosh Eliza Neeley and Grace Turner in 2:02.57; the second-place 400 free relay team of Ladouceur, Taggesell, Parr and Jensen in 4:12.18; Ladouceur’s 200 free second in 2:09.72 and 100 back third in 1:04.74; Ramponi’s 50 free third in 29.27; Taggesell’s 100 breast third in 1:17.1; Baker’s 200 free fifth in 2:34.98; and senior Amanda Gillion’s 500 free fifth in 6:28.02.

There was a time, more than a decade ago, when the Sonoma swim program was one of the best in the North Bay, with both the boys and girls teams dominating and winning titles year after year, while having a large contingent of Dragons qualifying for North Coast Section.

But the SVHS pool was filled in and covered over in 2005 and the Dragon swimmers were stranded without a pool for years, trying to stay afloat, but sinking to the bottom of the SCL standings without a daily accessible pool to practice.

Then the Sonoma Aquatic Center was purchased by Jane Hansen, who revitalized the youth swimming club Sea Dragons. That benefitted the Sonoma program, as Hansen and Sonoma co-coaches Keith Ryan and Owen Hardisty, not fazed by how young their teams were, guided the Dragons to the top of the league waters.

“It was an exciting afternoon and we are so proud of our boys and girls teams, and the fact that with our young swimmers, Sonoma is back will be highly competitive for a long time,” said Hansen.

Rounding out both the Sonoma boys and girls team rosters were senior Ragen Hedley; juniors Alexandra Dobson, Annie Greenslade, Jacqueline Regan, Ellie Rohrbacher, Natalie Smith and Nathalie Vega; sophomores Jasmine Johnstone, Nicole Moore, Belen Padilla, Hayley Shafer, Jocelyn Toscano and Kayla Winslow; and frosh Mario Coronado, Heather Durfee, Erica McIntosh and Kimberly Uzzo.