The Covington Youth Swim Team has done it again.
For the third-consecutive year, Covington has captured the West Bay Swim League championship.
The team, based at Covington Pool in Los Altos, won its latest league title July 24 in a home meet against Pacific Athletic Club of Redwood City.
This year's championship victory was Covington's most decisive yet. The team beat Pacific 1,783 to 1,221.
"Last year we won by quite a bit, but this year we won by a lot," said Covington head coach Stephanie Fryberg. "It was very shocking."
The win capped a perfect season for Covington, which won all six of its dual meets and its only relay competition.
Covington has about 160 members, according to Fryberg, and a majority of them are from Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View. The swimmers range in age from 5 to 18.
Most of them practice five days a week, Fryberg said, and the older swimmers are in the pool more than two hours at a time.
"All the kids worked very hard," said Fryberg, who's in her fifth year as coach. "They spent a lot of time in the water, which really helped them develop."
Of course, it takes coaches to help develop these swimmers, and Fryberg describes her staff as "really strong."
Rounding out the staff are Greg Hernandez, Chantal Rawn and Chris Ploagh.
"As a parent, I'm really impressed by the ability of the coaches and the team to make every kid feel like the team would fall apart without them," said Mary Cooper Feliz.
Family support also has played a part in the team's success, Fryberg said. A large group of parents attend each competition and many of them help run the home meets.
There were plenty of parents on hand to witness Covington's stellar performance in the championship.
The team set three new meet records that day: Taylor Wells in the 13-14 boys division 50-yard freestyle (25.11 seconds); Melanie Tansuwan in the 11-12 girls 50 breaststroke (35.19) and Anupam Pathak (24.84) in the 15-18 boys 50 butterfly (24.84).
Two other Covington swimmers just missed setting new marks. Naomi Glassman swam the 7-8 girls 25 fly in 17.12 (record is 17.10) and Becky Seelos did the 9-10 girls 50 fly in 35.08 (record is 35.04).
Seelos, Glassman and Wells also each won another event. Seelos prevailed in the 50 free (30.37), Glassman in the 25 breast (21.10) and Wells in the 50 backstroke (30.87).
Pathak swam the 50 fly as an exhibition, meaning the race didn't count for points, but he did help the team with wins in two other events. He placed first in the 50 free (23.40) and the 50 breast (32.55).
Covington had two other double winners: Daniel Gracia and Emily Tansuwan (Melanie's sister). Gracia won the 11-12 boys 50 free (27.85) and 50 fly (31.41). Tansuwan captured the 13-14 girls 50 breast (35.02) and 50 fly (30.16).
While Covington had a lot of outstanding individual performances at the meet, Fryberg said the championship was a real team effort.
"We won with depth," she said. "Everyone swam very well."
Although this was the team's last summer at Covington pool, which is closing soon, Fryberg said the program will carry on.
"I'm not sure where we'll be," Fryberg said, "but we will be back."
That means the team will get a chance to win a fourth title.