Atwater's Norton shines. Merced girls, BC boys repeat as CCC swimming champions.

Connor Norton used the word "scared" when he saw the qualifying time that Buhach Colony senior Luke Bird posted in the 100-yard freestyle trials on Friday.

That meant the race was on.

"For sure, I saw Luke swam that 48.9 (seconds). I was definitely scared," Norton said. "I knew I had to go all out."

Norton did just that, jumping out to a lead in the first 50 yards and then pulling away to win the event with a time of 48.24 seconds on Saturday during the Central California Conference Championships at Golden Valley High. It was Norton's second individual win on the day. The Falcons senior won the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.97 seconds earlier in the day.

It's the third consecutive year Norton has swept the 50 and 100 at the CCC championships.

Norton's strategy for the 100 was to stay with the leader through the first half and then turn on the jets for the final 100 yards. Turlock's Matthew Hesse finished second with a time of 49.47 and Bird finished third at 50.11.

"I usually go too fast the first 100 and then I don't have anything left for the second half of the race," Norton said. "I wanted to keep Luke, or whoever was up with me, where I could see him in the first half. I didn't want to let him out of my sight. Then I wanted to give it all I got in the second 50."

The team titles were no surprise.

Both the Buhach Colony boys and Merced girls went undefeated at 6-0 in the dual meets. The Thunder finished with 497 points to finish off the CCC championship. It's the second straight title for Buhach Colony after finishing as co-champions with Merced last year..

The Merced girls compiled 513 points to finish off their second straight championship. The Bears have won eight of the last nine CCC titles.

The Bears were led by Sophia Hart and Emily Trejo, who both won individual titles and also came away with second-place finishes.

Hart dominated in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2 minutes and 24.75 seconds. Merced teammate Lindzie Skarke finished second with a time of 2:33.79.

Trejo won the 100 breaststroke (1:13.25) and finished second in the 50 freestyle (26.61).

"Nobody has really been hyping us up this year," Hart said. "Our team has been doing it on our own. We've been fighting for it. Everyone has been doing well. Everyone has been dropping times. We really try hard in practice. Everybody has been dedicated."

Also contributing to Merced's title run was Madeline Hall's second-place finish in the 100 butterfly (1:04.04) and Katarina Capulong's finishing second place in the 500 freestyle (5:53.86).

The Buhach Colony boys won with their depth. The Thunder's only individual title was Aaron Helfgott's win in the 500 freestyle (5:00.00). The Thunder also won the 400 freestyle relay.

Buhach Colony racked up points with Bird's second-place finish in the 200 IM to go along with his third in the 50 freestyle. Helfgott placed second in the 50 freestyle behind Norton.

On the girls side, it was a stellar meet for Buhach Colony's Erin McBride. The Thunder junior won the 200 freestyle (2:05.83) and 500 freestyle (5:44.96).

"I'm so happy I don't know how to put it into words," McBride said. "All the hard work is finally paying off this year. In the 200, I wanted to hit 2:05 so bad. That's all I was thinking about last night. I wanted to trim those two seconds off and I finally did it."

El Capitan freshman Kendall Thomas came close to breaking a conference record in the 100 backstroke. Thomas won with a time of 1:00.66. Merced High's Kate DeAyora set the record of 1:00.35 in 1999.

Thomas will have three more years to shoot for the record.

Other local winners were Merced's David Chen in the 200 IM with a time of 2:02.57. Bears teammate Spencer Fluetsch won the 200 freestyle (1:50.67).

El Capitan's Kaileb Michael took home the 100 butterfly championship with a time of 53.31.

Next up for the swimmers is the Sac-Joaquin Section trials, which get underway May 10-11 at Tokay High in Lodi.

Friday

Baseball

Buhach Colony 2, Turlock 1 in Turlock – Roman Gurr hit a two-run triple in the top of the seventh inning to drive in the winning runs for the Thunder (16-6 overall, 6-1 CCC).

Buhach Colony’s Antonio Cortez went the distance on the mound. The sophomore scattered eight hits and gave up just one run in the sixth inning.

Merced 6, Golden Valley 5 in Merced – Julien Daughdrill squeezed in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Bears rallied for two runs to defeat Golden Valley.

Clayton Hall tripled and scored two runs for a Merced offense that was held to just four hits. Hall also pitched two scoreless innings in relief to pick up the win on the mound.

Sean Bowler struck out 13 hitters as he pitched into the seventh inning for the Cougars. Robert White and Jason Raine both had two hits and scored a run for Golden Valley.

Pitman 2, El Capitan 1 in Turlock – All the scoring was done in the first inning as the Pride held off the Gauchos. Chase Minor threw a complete game with nine strikeouts for El Capitan (13-9, 5-4 CCC). Zach Pilkington had two hits and knocked in the only Gauchos run.

This story was originally published April 28, 2018 at 6:39 PM with the headline "Atwater's Norton shines. Merced girls, BC boys repeat as CCC swimming champions.."