ELK GROVE, Calif. – The squad of sophomore Riley Wood, freshman Mackenzie Terry, junior Lilla Kapinya and junior Landen Didriksen finished third in the 200-yard medley relay to earn a trip to the CIF state meet, then Kapinya won each of the two sprint freestyle events with school records for two more state entries, leading St. Francis to the Division II team title at the Sac-Joaquin Section swimming championships Friday at the Elk Grove Aquatics Center.

This is the fourth consecutive championship for the Troubadours, and the ninth overall. St. Francis won the team standings with 151 points, a mere six ahead of runner-up St. Mary's and 29 in front of third-place Christian Brothers.  

The top three finishers in each event earns a spot in the CIF state championships, held at Clovis West on May 15 and 16. Wood, Terry, Kapinya and Didriksen combined for a 1:47.08, more than two full seconds ahead of Granite Bay's 1:49.11 to earn such a trip. That event added 32 points to the team total, which already had 29 thanks to the fourth and fifth places scored by divers Stella Cassidy and Piper Bates in the 1-meter board championships on Monday in Stockton.

Kapinya then went on to single-handedly add 40 points for St. Francis, first by breaking her own two-day-old school record in the 50 freestyle by a mere hundredth of a point. Her winning 22.96 bested challengers Kiera Menna of Davis (23.15), Olivia Somers of Rio Americano (23.30) and Molly Terry of Pioneer (23.41) for that individual championship.  

Kapinya followed with a blistering 50.04 in the 100 free, beating runner-up Mac Wheeler of Lincoln by four tenths of a second. This not only marked a 0.78 improvement over her prelim time on Wednesday, but it vaulted the future UCLA Bruin ahead of Ava Chavez for a second SF program record. Chavez, now a swimmer at Cal, previously held the benchmark of 50.49, set in a relay split at the 2023 state championships.

Speaking of relay splits, Kapinya gave herself another opportunity to reset the 50 free record when she switched places with Didriksen in the 200 free relay order. She led off the event with a 22.93 split, breaking her own record for a fourth straight time. That 200 free relay appeared to earn another entry at the state championships, but its final time was later disqualified.

Terry also helped the Troubie scoring total by placing seventh in the 200 individual medley at 2:07.98, then chipped in sixth-place points in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:04.23. Wood and Didriksen also chipped in points by competing in consolation finals: Wood placing 12th in the 100 backstroke (1:00.18), Didriksen immediately preceding Terry in the 100 breast by finishing 15th (1:07.38).

Finally, St. Francis' 400 free relay squad of Lillian Damrell, Savannah Hamilton, Gabriella McHugh and Lena Moggan came through by winning the consols with a 3:48.51, adding another 18 points – enough to hold off St. Mary's 24 points gained in the subsequent 400 free relay championship final.

Meanwhile, freshman Gia Navarrete led the Troubies in the frosh-soph events. She cut 5.44 seconds from her prelim time to jump five places from 14th to ninth in the 200 IM. Navarrete trailed Folsom's Madeline Woo after 150 yards and was essentially even with West Park's Berkeley White at that same turn. However, the SF water polo standout swam the freestyle leg in 32.90 seconds, compared to Woo's 34.55 and White's 35.11, to win that 'B' final.

Navarrete went on to lead off the frosh-soph 400 free relay, with Fiona Pope, Molly Moyer and Emma Dietrich following. That Troubie foursome placed 16th at 4:07.66.

Davis won the girls' Division I title with 289 points, well ahead of the close battle between Granite Bay (220) and Vista Del Lago (218) for second and third. Bear River was the runaway D-III champion with 52 points. On the boys' side, the D-I through III champions were Granite Bay (261), Del Oro and Christian Brothers (68 each) and West Campus (60).

The CIF state championships run Wednesday through Friday, with Cassidy competing in the 1-meter diving on Wednesday, then Kapinya, Wood, Terry and Didriksen in action in Thursday's prelims with the hopes of advancing to Friday's final.