As the swimmer touches the pad, athletes lining the pool deck erupt into a celebratory burst of cheering and excitement for what became the Bulldog’s league championship victory of the 2025 swim and dive season. The enthusiasm only heightens as they jump into the pool in elation alongside their teammates, coaches, and plaque.
“Winning league was really nice because all of the seniors that are older than me were talking about like, ‘we’ve won league this one year and it was super cool’, and I never got to experience that,” said Varsity swimmer Coco Hong (11). “But when we actually did, we all jumped in the pool and it was really nice.”
After years of dedication and time put forth by every student-athlete and coach towards the program, Ayala’s girls team won first in the Palomares League, a competitive league of six skilled high schools in Southern California, with the boys also accomplishing a close second place to the Diamond Bar Brahmas. Both the girls and boys teams consisted of several swimmers who were qualified to progress further to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section. Unexpectedly, the boys returned, making history as they came out with the ultimate victory: securing the school’s first CIF Southern Section Division II championship title.
While several of the top swimmers graduated following the victory of their final high school season, the rest of the team are now preparing to utilize the success from the previous year to propel them further as they enter Division I for CIF this season.
“I like teams that work well together, and from my perspective [last season’s team] worked really well,” said Varsity boys swimmer Kevin Zheng (12). “Everybody was stronger, everyone on Varsity was faster, [and] we had fast freshmen that made us move up divisions.”
Of course, being able to achieve such a tremendous victory required a massive group effort in order to collectively score the highest among countless other elite schools. However, Zheng’s abilities, which were instrumental towards their CIF win, look to be just as vital for the program this year.
“Our boys’ team last year had the fastest swimmer in the history of this school. Probably the third fastest swimmer in the history of this school, and currently still here, Kevin is one of the top five fastest swimmers in the history of this school,” said swim and dive Head Coach Paul Marceau.
Despite the success from last year, the swim team faces a few challenges. With many key players from the previous season already graduated, the journey to establish a strong team dynamic similar to last season’s may face many obstacles over the first few months. But while chemistry among the athletes is easier to foster after hours of practicing alongside each other, another challenge, deriving from their immense success of the last season, will be the competition.
“CIF Southern Section Division I is the fastest section in the state, and probably the fastest one in the nation. So we’re swimming against the very, very, very, very, very best, and that’s going to be hard,” said Marceau.
Yet, as many often emphasize, diamonds form under pressure. Through the new goals and higher expectations being placed upon the program swimmers and coaches, many hope to see the Bulldogs secure another league win and potentially advance far into CIF with the help of the incoming competition.
“I’m excited because the boys had an incredibly successful season last year, and I want to see us back that up,” said Marceau. “And I think the girls can repeat and win another league championship. So I’m really excited about the possibility of that happening.”
