By Eric Brodkin
Staff Writer
On May 5, junior Shea Steggell, sophomore Delaney Herr, senior Reagan Santa Ana, senior Katie Kabealo, and senior Lyannah Semayao broke multiple records at the 2023 CIFSS Division 1 swim meet in Riverside.
The five girls broke school and Bay League records in the girls 200-yard freestyle relay and the 200-yard medley relay. Santa Ana, Herr, Steggell, and Kabealo all placed fourth in the girls 200-yard freestyle relay, with a time of 1:35.53, 0.65 seconds faster than their entry time.
Samayoa, Herr, Steggell, and Kabealo proceeded to place third break the girls 200-yard medley relay record with a time of 1:44.86, 0.58 seconds faster than their entry time.
“I was so excited when I saw that we broke the records,” Steggell said. “I swam last in my relays, so I knew that we had won when I touched the wall first. When I looked at our time on the scoreboard, I was ecstatic.”
This is not the first time this group of athletes has broken records. According to Steggell, the girls broke these same records last year, which motivated them to work even harder this year. They have been preparing for this moment during the off-season, training both as a team and individually, according to Steggell.
“During the off-season, we had all been training with our respective club teams, and we got prepared during our preseason,” Steggell said. “All of us improved a lot in the past year, so we were feeling great at the start of the season. We put more emphasis on the strokes we would be doing in these relays as well.”
According to coach Ariana Silva, the medley was going to be harder than anticipated. One of the original swimmers in the relay broke her arm mid-season, requiring someone to step in for her. According to Silva, they had to shift multiple girls around to find the right people for each stroke, since the medley includes four different strokes: backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and
freestyle.
“The 200-yard medley relay record being broken was slightly unexpected,” Silva said. “The shifting of swimmers was a struggle, but the girls who stepped in worked hard. I could tell they really wanted that record.”
According to Steggell, her 200-freestyle medley split was 0.35 seconds faster than the first relay. Her favorite race was the medley because she and her teammates got to compete in their beststroke, according to Steggell.
“My favorite record that we broke this year was the 200-medley relay record,” Steggell said. “This relay is special in my heart because Lyanah, Delaney, Katie, and I have worked so hard on our respective strokes. Although we were worried when we faced Redondo Union in both the Bay League and CIF because they had improved greatly from last season, it turned out that we improved even more than they did.”
A few of the girls plan to continue their passion for swimming in college. Kabealo is committed to the University of Pennsylvania, hoping to join the swim team, and Steggell is hopeful about her future as a swimmer in college.
“In the future, I would love to be recruited for college,” Steggell said. “Currently, I’m in contact with some D1 and D3 schools. I would also love to improve my times on some of my longer races, since I’m a sprinter.”
For seniors Kabealo, Santa Ana, and Semayao, their Costa careers ended with a successful CIF run. According to Kabealo, as the 2022-23 swim season comes to a close, she will continue to reflect on her swim career at Costa.
“My favorite memory from Costa swim was finishing third in the 200-medley relay with my teammates this year at CIF and breaking the school record,” Kabealo said. “In the future, I hope to do more open water and ocean races. I also plan to either walk onto the team at my college or join an intramural team. Costa swim has given me a great passion for the sport, and I plan to
continue swimming”
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