City Swim Championships : Palisades Boys and Girls Win

Throughout the City swim championships Wednesday night, El Camino Real High School Coach Corey Stanbury sat charting the meet’s progress at East Los Angeles College.

Based on the times from last week’s preliminaries, the Palisades boys’ team was a 26-point favorite over El Camino Real.

Stanbury was aware of this difference and had figured exactly where El Camino Real needed to pick up points. It was this type of planning that enabled El Camino Real to win the last eight City titles.

This time, Stanbury added up the points until the end, but El Camino Real couldn’t accumulate enough. Palisades won with 242 points. El Camino Real finished second with 186.

Kevin Shepard and Greg Robins sparked Palisades with their 1-2 finish in the 50 freestyle.

El Camino Real received strong individual efforts from Bob Baldocchi and Cliff Rossie, both of whom were double winners. Baldocchi, a senior, won the 100- and 200-yard freestyles. He won the 100 in 46.07 seconds, narrowly missing the record of 45.83 that he set last year. Rossie, a junior, won the 200 individual medley and 100 butterfly.

In the girls’ competition, Palisades won the final event, the 400 relay, to upset El Camino Real and win its fifth consecutive title. Palisades had 247 points, El Camino Real 240.

Michelle Saxer of Palisades broke her own City record of 2:11.84 in the 200 individual medley, winning in 2:11.41. Saxer also won the 100 butterfly in 58.91.