The562’s coverage of aquatic sports in Long Beach is sponsored by the Aquatic Capital of America Foundation.
It’s not what happens to you, but it’s how you respond to it that matters. In the case of 2024 Wilson boys’ swimming, the Bruins were forced to patiently wait 361 days until getting the chance to respond to their first Moore League loss in 49 years, a chance they’d take advantage of like no other.
There was a reason why Wilson was consecutive Moore League champions from 1972 until their streak-ending loss to Long Beach Poly last year. The Bruins showed their patented passion to take back the Moore League title on Thursday at Long Beach City College, finishing with a team total score of 534 to beat out second place Poly with 494.
“There was something behind this, we had something to prove,” said Wilson coach Brandon D’Sa. “Losing sucks, we know that, but we wanted it back. And you could feel it. You could feel it in the energy of the boys, you could feel it in the energy of the pool, and you could feel it in the way people were swimming including the Poly boys too. My boys swam great, they did exactly what they needed to do and overachieved in a lot of aways, this is competition. This is what competition does.”
Heading into the night one thing was certain; Wilson senior Wyatt Mitchell was going to show out if this team wanted the chance to regain their title. Mitchell did just that and more, taking first place in both of his individual events while anchoring his team to first and second place finishes in relays. Mitchell took wins in the 200-yard Freestyle and 100 Freestyle, while contributing to Wilson’s win in the 200 Freestyle relay alongside their second place finish in the 400 Freestyle relay.
“Like our coaches say, it was just kill,” said Mitchell. “I know these guys are putting in a lot of work and are year-round swimmers, but a lot of us are water polo players. So we’re only really working on swimming three or four months out of the year so we’ve known that every day has to be crucial. We knew that they had fire power with (Poly’s) Evan and Lucas Jue and Sam Kuo, so we knew that everyday we had to go as hard as we could and today was no different.”
While the Bruins only found gold in four of the eleven total events, Wilson dug deep into their roster to find placements across the board to run up their score. The Bruins received huge contributions from younger guys like Keegan Abing, Kai Bramble, and Elijah Vince, alongside Ace Dumont who recored a personal best 1:03.21 in the 100 Breaststroke after never going under a 1:06.
Poly was first to bring the energy on Thursday as the Jackrabbits came out of the gate with strong races led by senior Samual Kuo. The senior and Naval Academy commit led the Jackrabbits in the first event of the night contributing to their win in the 200 Medley Relay. He finished with individual wins in the 50 Freestyle and 100 Backstroke, while contributing to Poly’s team wins in the 200 Medley Relay and 400 Freestyle Relay.
“You know, it feels good, but I can’t take any of the credit,” said Kuo of his individual wins. “I have this amazon team behind me. They support me every step of the way, not just in school but in life. The result isn’t exactly what we wanted, but I couldn’t be more proud. Contrary to public opinion, our success doesn’t come from individuals, it comes from the unity behind this team.”
After the opening 200 Medley Relay the Jackrabbits led Wilson 54-52, a lead that would be short lived before the energy of the Bruins began to take over. After Mitchell’s 200 Freestyle win Wilson took a 103-97 lead and began pulling away event-by-event.
Alongside Kuo, the Jackrabbits found their seven wins with help from the Jue brothers Evan and Lucas. Senior Evan Jue picked up wins in the 200 IM and 500 Freestyle, which is his fourth title in that race. Lucas Jue picked up second place finishes in the 200 Freestyle and 100 Freestyle. Teammate Mordox Sar picked up a win in the 100 Butterfly, meanwhile Poly also found relay wins in the 200 Medley Relay, and 400 Freestyle relay.
“I could not be prouder of this group of kids,” said Poly coach Ish Pluto. “Their leadership and the kind of kids they are, they’re sweep and nice, and they really get after it as you could see in the swims. They came ready to race. Wilson also came ready to race, and they were fired up. The power of that buoyed them and they swam out of their minds. There were some unbelievable swims on their end. They came out on top and rightly so.”
The rest of the team scores put Millikan in third place with 387 points and Cabrillo was fourth with 243 points. Lakewood finished fifth with 190 and Jordan had 129 in sixth.
The Millikan backstroke duo of junior Lucas Smith and sophomore Luc Poissant were the highlight for the Rams. Smith finished second in the 100 Backstroke at 56.95, and Poissant was fourth at 58.26. Both get them into CIF consideration.
“It’s great when you have two backstrokers like that who push each other in practice on a daily basis,” Millikan coach Randy Wright said.
Cabrillo’s bothers Mosheh and Aharon Villegas-Resendiz made program history with a pair of second place finishes. Mosheh went 55.52 in the 100 Butterfly at 21.95.
The entire Jordan program showed massive improvement throughout the meet while top swimmer sophomore John Delgadillo had a qualifying time in prelims by dropping five seconds and led off the Panthers relays. He had a personal best split of 26.34 in the 200 Freestyle Relay.
Lakewood sophomore Dean Hutchinson had a personal best 24.76 in the 50 Freestyle.
RESULTS
200 Medley Relay – Poly (1:40.30) Churchill, Kuo, Sar, Kato
200 Freestyle – Wyatt Mitchell, Wilson (1:38.88)
200 IM – Evan Jue, Poly (1:55.74)
50 Freestyle – Samuel Kuo, Poly (21.79)
100 Butterfly – Mordox Sar, Poly (52.79)
100 Freestyle – Wyatt Mitchell, Wilson (46.36)
500 Freestyle – Evan Jue, Poly (4:41.85)
200 Freestyle Relay – Wilson (1:28.18) Ehrenfeld, Knight, Casem, Mitchell
100 Backstroke – Samuel Kuo, Poly (54.03)
100 Breaststroke – Noah Smith, Wilson (1:02.44)
400 Freestyle Relay – Poly (3:12.05) L. Jue, Sar, E. Jue, Kuo
