A handful of swimmers from Ripon and Sierra are returning to Tokay High today for the Sac-Joaquin Section Finals.

Preliminary races took place Thursday for the girls and Friday for the boys.

One individual and a relay team from Ripon made the top-18 cut at the varsity level. Michael Chavez turned in the 10th fastest time in the 100-yard freestyle at 48.43 seconds. The varsity girls 400 free relay had the 10th best time at 3 minutes, 55.52 seconds.

The top three placers in each event along with anyone who meets at-large standards qualify for the California Interscholastic Federation state meet set for May 13-14 at the Clovis West Aquatic Complex.

Ripon’s Valerie Chun is among the top frosh-soph entrants from the area. She clocked the second best time in the 100 butterfly (58.38) seventh in the 200 free (2:00.77).

Crystallynn Tran is coming back for final races in the 100 fly (fifth, 1:00.38) and 100 backstroke (seventh, 1:03.97).

Ben Svoboda qualified for the frosh-soph championship races in the 200 free (sixth, 1:52.05) and 100 free (seventh, 50.28).

Brody Biedermann will compete in the consolation finals for the 100 fly (16th, 58.76) and 100 back (13th, 1:00.56). Kennedy Winter made the cut for the girls 100 back (17th, 1:08.89), and Teo West qualified for the boys 100 breast consolation (16th, 1:06.99).

Sierra’s Jennifer Graves shined in the frosh-soph girls distance events, registering the fifth best preliminary time in the 200 free (2:00.59) and seventh in the 500 free (5:20.97).  Keira Brink returns for the 50 free consolation final (13th, 26.45).

Frosh-soph relay teams competing today: Ripon girls 200 medley (seventh, 2:02.04), Ripon boys medley (seventh, 1:47.65), Ripon girls 400 free (sixth, 3:58.13), Ripon boys 400 free (eighth, 3:33.98), Sierra girls 200 medley (12th, 2:05.56) and Sierra girls 200 free (15th, 1:51.57).

SOFTBALL

Los Banos 16, Lathrop 1

Lathrop (0-13, 1-17 overall) hosted its final home game of the season Friday against the Western Athletic Conference leader.

Senior Shelby Aquino pitched three innings and went 2 for 3 at the plate. Isa Paniagua went 1 for 2 while coming up with big plays in the outfield. Ishmeet Uppal drove in the Spartans’ lone run with a single.

“We had a couple of moments of great ball,” Lathrop coach Stephanie Maestretti said. “We kept them off the board and off the bases. We were outhit and had an uphill battle from the start, but I’m proud of the fight the team put out today. IT was great to have our seniors honored before today’s final home game and allow them a little bit of fun and freedom of creating a lineup and figure out their positions and putting all that together.”

Manteca 11, Weston Ranch 0 (5)

Grace Rosas, Mohrgen Kissee and Nayellys Torres combined to pitch for a mercy-shortened one-hitter for the visiting Buffaloes (5-5 Valley Oak League, 17-7-1 overall), facing one batter over the minimum.

Rosas threw three innings and had three strikeouts. Torres struck out all three batters she faced.

Kissee also drove in four runs and had a hit to highlight the offense. Ryleigh King went 3 for 3 with a run. Jessica Faias (two RBIs) and Jessica Almeida (run, RBI) both finished 2 for 3.

JV softball

Los Banos 16, Lathrop 1

Cerreny Perez, Pia Calub, Allana Lewis, Julissa Aguilar and Madilynn Romero each had a hit for Lathrop.