Santa Margarita’s dual powerhouse swim program captured CIF state titles for both boys and girls swim and dive teams, a first in state history for the same high school to bring home the state championship for both boys and girls.
The girls program captured their fourth consecutive state win with Teagan O’Dell ’25 smashing the national high school record in the 200 IM, previously held by Olympian Torri Huske. O’Dell’s time won the state title by almost a full five seconds. It is the second national record for O’Dell this season as she and teammates Teia Salvino ’24, Asia Kozan ’23 and Gracyn Aquino ’25 broke a national record in the 200 freestyle relay in March.
For O’Dell, focusing on fun leads to success in the water.
“At high school meets, I feel like cheering is more fun than swimming sometimes,” O’Dell, donning orange nail polish and pink colored eye black, told The Orange County Register. “When the team energy is there, everyone just improves. There’s a phrase, ‘When you’re having fun, (kids) swim fast.’
Santa Margarita’s girls program tallied 223 points at the state meet held at Clovis West High School, outdistancing runner-up Campolindo with 143 points. The boys program scored 238 points to outdistance Loyola with 222.5, bringing home their first state championship title after finishing in the runner-up position last year.
Special congratulations to the following Santa Margarita student-athletes who took home individual state titles:
Girls Individual State Titles
Teagan O'Dell ’25: 200 I.M. (national record)
Teagan O’Dell ’25: 100 backstroke (county and state record)
Asia Kozan ’23: 200 freestyle (1:46.02)
Gracyn Aquino ’25: 50 freestyle (22.84)
Teagan O’Dell ’25, Chloe Stinson ‘25, Asia Kozan ’23 and Gracyn Aquino ‘25: 200 freestyle relay (1:30.90)
Asia Kozan ‘23, Audrey Lee ‘25, Ariel Lin ‘24, and Gracyn Aquino ‘25: 400 freestyle relay
Boys Individual State Titles:
Humberto Najera ’23, Nathan Wu ’24, Daniel Verdolaga ’24, Ramon Jiang ‘24: 200 medley relay (1:29:01) (county and state record)
Read the full story in The Orange County Register.
The SMCHS swim program is under the leadership of brothers and co-head coaches Ron and Rich Blanc, who have guided the Eagles to the national stage and unprecedented success since 1996.
The state victory comes on the heels of the girls swim and dive team winning their ninth consecutive CIF-SS championship and the boys team winning their third CIF title in a row at the CIF-SS Division 1 championships earlier this month.
Both programs also were victorious at Trinity League finals, where both the boys and girls programs swept the league on all six levels – boys and girls varsity, boys and girls junior varsity and boys and girls open. No high school in the history of the Trinity League has accomplished this feat. This is the second year in a row SMCHS has won the sweep.
The shower of titles this spring included two national records, three state meet records, four Orange County records, three CIF-SS records and three league records for the girls. The boys program set one CIF-SS record, one state meet record, four county records and recorded six league records.