Youth roundup: Aquadarts swim to fourth at Junior Olympics

The Davis Aquadarts sent a squad of more than 70 swimmers to the three-day Sierra Nevada Junior Olympics last weekend at Solano Junior College and finished fourth out of 20 teams.

Two Aquadarts won the high-point category for their age groups as Tucker Fisk, 14, won all seven 13-14 boys events and 8-year-old Emily Castles won six of seven 8U girls races, taking second in the other. Castles also broke two team records by going 38.90 in the 50-yard backstroke and 1:23.44 in the 100 individual medley, eclipsing a mark set by Wendy Porter in 1967.

Davis dominated in those two divisions as Fisk and Castles were joined by nine swimmers who posted top-10 finishes. Cameron Wright placed in all of his seven events, winning the 200 butterfly; Daniel Alvarez was a finalist in all seven of his events; and Sean Kos swam in four finals. Amy Schroeder, in her last meet as an 8U competitor, went out in style placing in all seven of her races. In addition, Charlotte Rosendale, 8, was 6-for-6 in her events; Sara Kos, 7, finaled in six of her seven races; and Catalina Taylor, Audrey Portello and Sarah Bennetts all reached final swims.

The 13-14 boys also won the 400 medley relay (3:55.49), and took second in the 200 and 400 free relays and the 200 medley relay.

In the 10U girls division, Aquadarts Brooke Imamoto, Linnea Gatmon-Sandrock, Selby Anderson and Olivia Harris combined for 21 finals appearances and helped post four top-10 relay finishes.

Other Davis highlights came from Luca Urlando, who raced to strong finishes in all seven of his 10U boys events, and Kiet Nguyen, who did the same in the 11-12 boys division.

Locals Nick Goldberg, Luca del Bene, Zeno Castiglioni, Carl Csaposs, Jacob Kelman, Hailey Collier, Zoe Cosgrove, Keianna Pineda, Laurel Krovetz, Tyler Babcock, Anthony Cannata, Theo Cariou-Gomez, Bryce Gregg and Izzy Bishop each made finals swims.

Diamonds gymnastics

The Davis Diamonds youth gymnastics team got several great efforts in the annual Delta Classic, contested last weekend at the Stockton Civic Auditorium.

At Level 7, 13-year-old Kate Miller led the local charge, making a statement with her 9.425 handspring vault and adding a beam win (9.225) and a silver on floor (9.225). In the intermediate division, Kyra Lee earned fourth on vault (9.25) and took eighth place on bars, beam and all-around. Teammates Kyra Mayfield and Karolina Perkins finished 10th and 11th, respectively in the all-around.

In the Xcel Bronze division, Diamonds Olivia Cooper (beam) and Emma Thompson (vault) each grabbed silver medals as Cooper finished third all-around, just ahead of Thompson. Lainey Swanson won the Xcel Silver vault competition (9.05), placed second on floor and second all-around in the younger division, while Nina Langley earned the beam silver (9.4) and finished fifth all-around among the older Silvers.

Katrina Hernes swung her bars routine to 9.5, taking the silver in the Xcel Gold division, helping her to seventh all-around.

The Davis Level 8 gymnasts were paced by Rebecca Hill’s third-place beam performance (9.05) as she finished sixth all-around. Micaela Everitt, a DHS junior, was eighth on vault and beam for ninth all-around and Amanda Braun, a Blue Devil senior, took seventh on vault and bars.

Among the older Level 9s, Isabella Martinez went 4-for-4 for the first time this year, including taking the floor bronze for the Diamonds, to finish fourth all-around. In addition, Chloe Chan hit for sixth place on bars and floor on her way to a qualifying score for the state championships.

Davis rugby club

The Davis Rugby Club’s Silver team matched the strength of powerhouse De La Salle in a recent matchup but was done in by the Spartans’ weak-side running game in a 38-28 loss.

The hosts jumped out to a 19-0 lead thanks to their kick-and-clear game that resulted in quick isolated scores. The Blue Devils, however, hung tough and bounced back behind Quinn Williams and Oscar Sepulveda, who each touched down from 10 meters out. Davis’ Derek Pleasants made the conversions (he was 4-for-4 on the day) as the locals cut the lead to 19-14.

Later, Brendan MacDonald spun off a rolling maul and crashed his way in from 30 meters out and the Devils were up 21-19.

The two teams traded tries — Williams tallying for Davis — but the Spartans went to their weak-side game to score the game’s final 12 points and clinch the win.

Zac Slavich, Mike McTygue and Nash Nunes played hard for the Blue Devils, Winfred Roberson had several bullish runs from his center position and Eli Castro continued his savage tackling.