Northwood boys, Santa Margarita girls aiming to defend CIF State swimming titles

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Northwood’s boys, along with Santa Margarita’s boys and girls, are contenders for team titles at the CIF State swimming championships based on the scoring of entry times.

The Northwood boys and Santa Margarita girls are the defending team champions entering the two-day meet, which begins with prelims on Friday at Clovis West High at 1 p.m.

The swimming finals are Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

Northwood’s boys are expected to duel against two-time state champion Santa Margarita, Archbishop Mitty of San Jose, De La Salle of Concord, Amador Valley of Pleasanton and Valley Christian of San Jose for the team championship.

Northwood placed second to Santa Margarita at the CIF-SS Division 1 final on May 9.

“We’re ready to put our best foot forward and to rise to the unique challenge that is in front of us,” said Northwood coach Alex Nieto, who also guided the Timberwolves to a state title in 2018. “We have a diverse group of kids from all grades led by Andrew Maksymowski and some boys that were here last year when we won.”

“We also have a lot of fresh, new blood excited to make their mark,” the coach added.

Northwood and Santa Margarita appear set to again clash in the boys 200 and 400-yard freestyle relays. The teams are seeded first and second, respectively, in both events.

Maksymowski, a senior committed to USC, is seeded first in the 500-yard freestyle (4 minutes, 22.85 seconds) and second in the 200 free (1:34.70).

Santa Margarita’s girls are expected to be challenged by Campolindo of Moraga as they seek a seventh consecutive state title.

Calvary Chapel’s Bianca Nwaizu is the county’s other No. 1 seed in swimming. The junior committed to the University of Texas tops the entries in the girls 100 breaststroke with her Orange County-record time of 59.44 from CIF-SS Division 2 finals on May 8.

Other O.C. teams racing in the relays include: Woodbridge (boys and girls), San Clemente girls, Mater Dei girls, Tesoro girls, Edison boys, University boys, Portola boys and Crean Lutheran boys.

Diving kicks off the competition on Thursday at Clovis West. Mater Dei senior Gianna Kenrick, who is committed to Kentucky, is seeded first in the 11-dive girls meet.

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This story was originally published May 14, 2026 at 12:08 AM.