CIF Southern Section D1 Champs: Finals Recap | Swimming Records, Highlights & More (2026)

The CIF Southern Section Division 1 Championships, held on May 7-9, 2026, in Walnut, California, showcased the prowess of high school swimmers across the region. The event, held in SCY (25 yards) format, featured preliminary and final rounds with 9 swimmers per heat. Live results were available on the Meet Mobile app, with the '2026 CIF-SS Division 1' event. The meet recap highlights the top performances and records set during the competition.

Girls 200 Medley Relay

The West Ranch girls claimed the top spot in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:43.55, narrowly beating Santa Margarita (1:43.74) for second place. The race was closely contested, with both teams neck-and-neck after the backstroke legs. West Ranch's Nadine Fernando and Santa Margarita's Serena Ye led off with times of 26.40, tying at the end of the backstroke leg. Emma Hussein's 28.08 split for West Ranch and Haylee Pramono's 29.42 for Santa Margarita shifted the momentum. Kalun Zhang's 25.76 for West Ranch and Daniela Scott's 24.60 for Santa Margarita in the fly leg kept the race tight. The freestyle leg saw Emma Piltzer and Angela Lim touch in 23.31 and 23.32, respectively, for West Ranch and Santa Margarita, finishing just under two tenths apart. San Clemente secured the bronze medal with a time of 1:44.51.

Boys 200 Medley Relay

Santa Margarita dominated the boys' 200 medley relay, touching in 1:30.45 to win by over two seconds. Corona del Mar took second place with a time of 1:32.60. Sam Zhou led off for Santa Margarita with a 23.01, followed by Taylor Thongintra's 24.97 breaststroke split. Darren Nguyen's 22.50 fly leg and Bennett Korner's 19.97 freestyle split secured the gold medal. Corona del Mar's relay team of Henry Chang, Ethan Lim, Radomir Shostak, and Grant Christian finished in 1:32.60. University's Dylan Mac, Chris Lin, Tiger Chai, and Brendon Van Erp swam 1:33.66 for third place.

Girls 200 Freestyle

Alyssa Ton from Fountain Valley High School claimed the gold medal in the girls' 200 freestyle with a time of 1:45.15, repeating her first-place finish from the previous year. Ton's split times of 24.13, 26.55, 27.13, and 27.34 contributed to her victory. Charlotte Milkie from Santiago High School, committed to USC for 2027, finished second in 1:49.01, slightly slower than her best of 1:46.48 from the Winter Junior Championships. San Clemente's Zoe DeFabrique took the bronze medal in 1:49.83, just a tenth off her best of 1:49.76 from April 2025.

Boys 200 Freestyle

Northwood senior Andrew Maksymowski defended his title in the boys' 200 freestyle, touching in 1:34.70. This was a new lifetime best, improving upon his previous time of 1:35.61 from 2025. Liam Thomas from San Marino set a personal best of 1:37.28 for second place, shaving off over two seconds from his previous best. Northwood's Michael Wang finished in 1:37.65, also a personal best, just half a second off his previous record.

Girls 200 IM

West Ranch's Emma Hussein claimed the girls' 200 IM title in 1:57.23, the only swimmer under 2:00. Her split times of 25.50, 30.21, 33.04, and 28.48 contributed to her victory. Haylee Pramono from Santa Margarita finished second in 2:01.33, slightly slower than her lifetime best of 2:00.50 from March. Corona Del Mar's Sofia Szymanowski took the bronze medal in 2:02.16, just half a second off her lifetime best of 2:01.61 from November.

Boys 200 IM

Fountain Valley's Peter Vu, a Princeton commit for 2026, swam the top boys' 200 IM time of 1:48.60. His split times of 24.22, 28.44, 29.95, and 25.99 were close to his lifetime best of 1:48.83 from April 2025. Cooper Ren from Harvard Westlake finished second in 1:49.02, a new personal best, improving upon his previous time of 1:49.76 from the same meet last year. Crean Lutheran South's Nolan Weijland took the bronze medal in 1:49.96, dropping under 1:50 for the first time.

Girls 50 Freestyle

Gabi Brito from Santa Monica High School made a significant improvement in the girls' 50 freestyle, swimming 21.66 to take three tenths off her previous best of 21.93. This move places her among the top 15-16 girls in history in the event. Ava DeAnda from Riverdale Poly-tech, a Cal commit for 2026, finished second in 22.82, just four tenths off her best of 22.44 from December 2023. Woodbridge High School's Isabella Parker took the bronze medal in 22.87, improving upon her lifetime best of 22.98 from March.

Boys 50 Freestyle

Newport Harbor High School's Connor Ohl swam 19.96 in the boys' 50 freestyle, missing the meet record by just one-hundredth. Ohl, primarily a water polo player, was close to his lifetime best of 19.79 from the Sunset Conference Championships. Jessera Catholic's Nolan Baker finished second in 20.22, a tenth off his previous time of 20.32 from the same meet last year. Santa Margarita's Bennett Korner took the bronze medal in 20.30, just a tenth off his best of 20.20 from March.

Girls 100 Butterfly

Gabi Brito from Santa Monica High School claimed the gold medal in the girls' 100 butterfly with a time of 50.74, setting a new meet record. Tori Yamamura from Vale High School finished second in 52.55, while Daniela Scott from Santa Margarita took the bronze medal in 55.45.