Sierra squeaked out two wins Friday in a Valley Oak League dual meet at East Union.
The Timberwolves’ second-place boys team prevailed 91-80, getting the top two finishes in the 400-yard freestyle relay — the final event of the meet. East Union’s girls led by four points heading into the final three events, but Sierra surged to an 88-82 victory.
Sierra’s boys improved to 5-1 and remains in second place behind Oakdale heading into their regular-season finale against visiting Ripon on April 12. The girls team is now 3-3.
“We have two weeks to prepare for Ripon and it’s going to be a really tough meet all the way around,” Sierra coach Dave Breitenbucher said. “Today, East Union gave us a good run and we needed to pull out some key wins in the end.”
Both Sierra teams battled depth issues with key swimmers out. The boys clinched their win by going 1-2 in the final relay race. Nik Brink was part of that winning 400 free quartet, capping off a productive meet in which he also won the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke.
Zach Van Zwaleunberg (200 individual medley), Jordan Shinn (50 free), Charles Randolph (100 free) and Ethan Sanchez (500 free) each chipped in wins in an individual event. East Union’s first-place finishers were Michael Garcia (200 free) and Connor Galloway (100 breaststroke), who were also members of the winning 200 medley and 200 free relays along with Owen Minderler and Michael Hudson.
Sierra got the first-place points in the 100 backstroke, 100 breast and 400 free relay to sneak away victorious. The Timberwolves trailed for most of the meet but garnered the lead for good with a 1-2 finish from Meghan Tolman and Jadyn Shinn in the 100 breast. Tolman also won the 50 free, Shinn claimed the 100 free and both helped the 200 medley and 200 free relays take first. Sierra trailed 45-33 midway through the meet but made up ground with a 1-2-3 sweep in the Shinn-led 100 free.
Emilee Holmes (200 IM) and Ezra Moral (100 back) added key first-place efforts for Sierra. Illeana Carillo (200 free), Kelly Ball (100 fly) and Autumn Roth-Martin (500 free) were the leading Lancers.

Junior varsity girls
East Union 78, Sierra 43
East Union led wire-to-wire for the landslide victory.
Trinity Cervantes was the high-point contributor with wins in the 100 IM, 50 back, 200 medley relay and 200 free relay. Izade Giron (50 fly), Carla Cardoza (100 free) and Amanda Valentine (50 free) each had one win.
Hailey Butticci took first in the 50 free for Sierra.