When Claremont senior Mary Hanna won the 100-yard backstroke, it was obvious the Lady Wolfpack was going to dominate St. Lucy’s Wednesday at Damien High School.

Hannah just kept piercing through the waters, unfazed by her opponents, finishing first with 1:09.23, kicking off the Wolfpack’s 99-71 victory.

“I tried to have long, smooth strokes,” Hanna said. “After the turn, I just sprinted and hoped for the best.”

Despite some moments where the St. Lucy’s stole the spotlight in the short-distance events—junior Bailie Carroll won the 100-yard freestyle in 54.97; freshman Johnna Encarnacion won the 200-yard IM, 2:22.30—CHS managed to pull off amazing results, including freshmen Naseem Nazari and Katrina Strash who finished first and second respectively in the 50-yard freestyle.

Nazari finished in 26.08 and Strash finished in 28.52.

Strash said she worked on her technique with Head Coach Courtney Eads and Assistant Head Coach Joy Stein, to fine tune her dives and turns in the pool. She was quite pleased to finish strong in this fast event.

“It’s always been my best event,” Strash said. “After a while, I just used all the confidence I had to finish.”

Strash later confronted a nail-biter scenario against one of her rivals, Johnna Encarnacion, in the 100-yard fly. Right when the buzzer went off, both executed perfect dives and it was an even lead after the first 25 yards.

Strash broke loose at the 50-yard mark at 29.21 but Encarnacion managed to power through the second-half and finish first in less than .6 seconds at 1:01.93. Strash finished second, 1:02.39.

Then it was sophomore Samantha Duran’s turn to spark even more energy for the CHS fans. After winning the 200-yard freestyle and earning the pool record with 1:56.14, she took the 500-yard freestyle in 5:13.82, and finished with a 50-yard lead over Regent swimmer Samantha Escalante. Duran dropped five seconds off of her personal record.

The Lady Wolfpack’s 4×100-yard team finished first and also earned the pool record, 3:52.46.

“This was one of our toughest meets,” Coach Stein said. “The team did well and we hope to move this momentum forward when we face Chino Hills.

The boys’ swimming team had some difficulties facing Damien High and lost, 135-35.

Junior Adam Ward, who earned second place in the 100-yard fly at 56.78, said his overall strokes were good, along with his turns. He remains confident to qualify in this event for CIF preliminaries.

The date and time for CIF prelims is still being determined, but both the girls and boys swimming are now preparing for their away meet at Chino Hills High School at 3:30 p.m. on April 30.

Boys volleyball struggles against Burbank

The boys volleyball team lost their away game against Burbank High School 3-1 on Wednesday, resulting in an overall record of 10-11 and a league record of 4-4, according to head coach Bernie Wendling.

They are also fourth in the Sierra League standings.

“We blew them off in the third set and it was pretty fun, but then Burbank managed to shut us down,” Coach Wendling said.

In the first set, the Bulldogs won 25-19, followed by another victory in the second set, 25-17. Along with the Wolfpack’s standout win in the third set 25-15, junior Donovan Robinson earned 16 kills, Coach Wendling said.

Senior Eran Bechor earned five kills and sophomore Bronson Sloboudnik earned four. With the Wolfpack holding on to the final spot for CIF playoffs, they hope to have it in their grasp for the remainder of the season.

The Wolfpack will face at their court Crescenta Valley High School at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Strong pitching not enough to keep CHS baseball from another loss

The Wolfpack’s baseball team lost against South Hills High School, 2-1 at home. Missed opportunities and a rough seventh inning were the cause, according to head coach Geoff Ranney.

Senior pitcher Jonathan Ochoa pitched well and even threw a no-hitter into the sixth inning, Coach Ranney said, but the team was unable to capitalize for a win.

“We are just a half step behind, but we’re a lot closer,” Coach Ranney said.

The Wolfpack belted five hits with one error; the Huskies had six hits.

CHS wants to turn things around in their final home game against the Huskies at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. The Wolfpack has had a rough season on the ball field, holding an overall record of 3-16.

—Alex Forbess

sports@claremont-courier.com