Once again, the Paseo Aquatics Club entered the pool undermanned and underdogs, and came away with an impressive 15th place finish against 75 other teams, many of which were double and triple in size, at the recent Speedo Short Course Far Western Championships hosted by Santa Clara Swim Club.

Just a few weeks ago, Paseo Aquatics traveled to Pasadena for the Southern California Junior Olympics and stood their ground against bigger clubs again finishing in 15th place. At the Far Westerns, Paseo again went up against larger, long-establish clubs from Southern and Northern California, and even Canada and Mexico.

“It was kind of like, ‘Ok, let’s see what we can do,’ ” said Paseo Aquatics Head Coach Chris Dahowski. “What makes this truly amazing is we did it with only 14 athletes able to score points. Paseo qualified 24 athletes in total but due to CIF high school swimming rules, 10 athletes were unable to participate as point scorers for the team.”

Over the duration of the four-day meet Paseo Aquatics repeatedly brought back swimmers in multiple events to swim in finals. And they all produced outstanding swims lowering personal best times and shattering team records.

Teia Salvino won first place in the 11-12 Girls’ 50 freestyle with a time of 24.26 earning her first Futures cut. Paseo has won back-to-back years in the 11-12 Girls’ 50 free at Far Westerns as last year was won by Riley Botton.

Despite coming in second in the 11-12 Girls’ 100 Individual Medley, Salvino’s time of 59.55 is the fastest time ever swam in the history of swimming in Santa Clarita Valley as she surpassed a time that has stood since 1994 by Jennifer Parmenter.

The 11-12 Boys’ 200 free relay finished second place at Far Westerns with a time of 1:40.06 (see video here). The team consisted of Daniel Jo (lead off), Adam Meldrum, Nolan Hill, and Luke Bezanilla (anchor).

Jo finished fourth in the Boys’ 11-12 100 freestyle with a time of 51.73, and Botton finished 5th in 13-14 Girls’ 50 free with a time of 23.87.

Check out www.paseoaquatics.org or call (661) 388-5301 to find out more information about one of the fast growing and hottest club teams in Santa Clarita.