CAITLIN WIRTH won the girls varsity 100 butterfly for Benicia against St. Patrick-St. Vincent.

Benicia High’s swim teams continued their winning ways against St. Patrick-St. Vincent in a showdown Wednesday at the James Lemos Swim Center.

Benicia’s varsity boys cruised to a 114-33 victory over the Bruins. However, the varsity Lady Panthers had no room for error and required a critical victory in the final 400 freestyle relay to pull out a narrow 87-79 win.

Senior Nicole Peck, juniors Amelia Arechy and Camila Sanchez, and sophomore Alexa Jacobson won the 400 free relay for the Lady Panthers.

“Those four young ladies showed a lot of character and stepped up for their team when they were needed most,” said Benicia head coach Jeff Kuta.

The Lady Panthers needed all of their depth in the sprints, getting 1-2-3 victories in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle led by sophomore Kelsi Norman and senior Hannah Barlow, respectively. Senior Caitlin Wirth took the 100 butterfly while Arechy won the 100 breaststroke. The Lady Panthers also won the 200 medley and 200 free relays.

The Panther boys showed their strength again by winning all three relays. Senior Timothy Man was a double victor, taking the 100 breaststroke in section qualifying time (1:06.80) as well as the 100 freestyle. Other individual winners included seniors Cris Gomez (500 free) and Nathan Robertson (50 free), and juniors Xavier Quintana (200 free) and Hank Nelson (100 back).

Mirelle Augst was a double winner (200 free, 100 back) for SPSV’s girls. Taylor Stump (500 free) and Regina Horder (200 IM) also won. Sophomore Alex Viray won the 100 butterfly for the Bruin boys.

Quintana and Viray made a crazy pact before their 500 freestyle event. Both completed the entire race swimming butterfly, and Quintana finished second in 6:44.4 while Viray got third in 6:55.5.

Benicia travels to SCAC rival Fairfield for their next meet on April 15.

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