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ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Faith Fasani, Ripon swimming
AOW Faith Fasani

 Fasani has made an immediate splash in her first year at Ripon High.

A key member of the school’s Sac-Joaquin Section championship girls water polo team in the fall, the sophomore has broken records less than month after a late start to the swim season. Fasani was a standout swimmer at Ripon Christian last year and had to serve a sit-out period in the spring, per California Interscholastic Federation transfer rules.

“I had to sit out for six weeks,” Fasani said. “I couldn’t compete in any meets, just practice. I missed quite a few of our league meets, but once I got back it was a pretty easy transition.”

She made her season debut March 28 against East Union. Last Friday, she etched her name in the record books during the Valley Oak League Championships at Oakdale High.

Fasani first competed in the 200-yard medley relay with Valerie Chun, Madeline Staley and Crystallyn Tran. They won the race in 1 minute, 52.93 seconds, setting a new meet record previously held by former Ripon standouts Erika Brown, Simone Gagnon, Emma Lewis and Hannah Sweet (1:55.25, 2013).

Fasani was just getting started.

She shattered Mallory Brubaker’s 2018 school (1:56.08) record in the 200 freestyle, clocking a 1:53.76. It’s also the new standard for the VOL meet, which was held by Brown (1:55.26) since 2013.

Fasani also won the 100 free in 52.33, dusting the old mark of 53.47 set by Central Catholic alumnus Malia Fernandez in 2019.

“I was aware of the school record, because I’ve been trying to break it for the past few weeks,” Fasani said. “But for the meet records, I wasn’t really sure about those until after. That was a surprise for me.

“We’ve been putting in a lot of work,” she added. “I want to thank my coach Erik (Zador) for preparing us for this. We’ve been looking forward to this part of the season. I’m excited to break the meet records, and in the medley relay we got to see what we’re really capable of.”

The SJS Trials and Finals are next Wednesday-Friday, May 1-2 at District 56 in Elk Grove. Last year, Fasani competed at the frosh-soph level, winning the 50 free in 24.47 and taking second in the 100 free in 54.51.