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Santa Margarita and Northwood swimmers blaze in Loyola Invite at USC

March 22, 2026

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LOS ANGELES — Northwood’s Michael Wang found several reasons to push himself Saturday despite the lack of urgency from the high school swimming calendar.

So did his teammate Andrew Maksymowski and Santa Margarita’s trio of Taylor Thongintra, Haylee Pramono and Bennett Korner.

The swimmers drew inspiration from the stadium setting at USC’s Uytengsu Aquatics Center, racing for their teammates on relays and a desire to prove themselves at the second Loyola Invite.

“It’s USC under the lights,” Northwood coach Alex Nieto said. “We want them all to race fast this time of year. They’re all tired. They should be. They should be exhausted from training. Exhausted from meets.”

“Let’s do something where there’s no expectations but show up and have fun,” the coach added. “They delivered.”

Wang captured the 100 and 200-yard freestyles in lifetime-best times to pace the county’s fleet in a meet held about a month-and-a-half ahead of the CIF-SS Division 1 championships.

A club swimmer with the Irvine Novaquatics, the sophomore dropped about a 1 1/2 seconds to claim the 200 free in 1 minutes, 37.17 seconds. He later sliced almost two tenths of second off his best to win the 100 free in 44.40 en route to earning the boys MVP.

After his touch in the 100 free, Wang spun and pounded the water.

“It’s electric,” he said of racing at USC. “For the past couple months, I’ve been getting sick a lot so it wasn’t that good with the times. But I’m really happy now that I got the proper training in, I’m able to do my best and really show everyone that I actually can go this fast.”

“I feel like in high school (swimming), there’s chances where you can have a little fun,” he added of his celebration after the 100.

Thongintra, a junior who trains with the Aquazot, challenged Wang for meet MVP.

He used a strong breaststroke leg and finish to out-touch Maksymowski by one one-hundredth of a second to take the 200 individual medley in a lifetime-best 1:49.50.

Thongintra later touched first in the breaststroke in 55.16 but the 200 IM remained fresh in his mind.

“I felt actually really strong about the finish,” the Northwestern commit said. “I know (Maksymowski) comes back so hard on the free. I feel that I had to really push. I felt good being able to hold him off on the free.”

“Barely,” he added. “For CIF, I feel I can be a lot faster.”

Maksymowski, who recently committed to USC, bounced back to win the 100 back (49.23) and anchor the winning 200 (1:22.90) and 400 free (3:02.66) relays.

He split an eye-popping 43.37 in the 400 free relay and 20.16 on the 200.

The senior from the Novaquatics also pounded the water after both relays.

“I feel grateful,” Maksymowski said. “Not a lot of people get to race at their home pool before they get into college. I feel blessed right now.”

“I’ve been pushing a lot at practice,” he added. “I’m just trying to see how I can swim well being tired. I’ll take whatever I can get.”

Pramono, a freshman who also trains with the Aquazot, earned female MVP on her 15th birthday. She won the 200 IM in a swift 2:01.70 and touched a narrow second to teammates Serena Ye (56.78) in the 100 back with a 56.82.

Pramono surprised herself “a lot” in the 200 IM, one of her rising events.

“I have not been to practice for a week (due to illness),” said Pramono, who blazed a 2:00.50 at the recent sectional meet in club. “I’ve been training really, really hard and if I wasn’t sick, I probably could have gone a lot faster.”

“It’s really hype,” she added of high school swimming, “especially with my teammates cheering me on.”

Korner, in his second year of high school swimming, edged Northwood sophomore Eli Siniak by six one-hundredths in the 50 free to stop the clock at 20.70.

“I want to go under 20 seconds,” said Korner, an Xavier commit who clocked a 22.20 at Mt. SAC last weekend. “Overall, my goals for the season are to help my team out the best I can and go fast.”

Santa Margarita’s boys scored 571 points to outdistance reigning state champion Northwood (467.5) for the team title. Loyola finished third.

The Eagles’ reigning state champion girls posted 594 points to beat runner-up Clovis West (440).

Santa Margarita’s girls impressed despite sending 12 swimmers, including Teagan O’Dell, to the college ranks after last season. “The girls have been swimming out of their minds,” co-coach Ron Blanc said.

Orange County Register

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Santa Margarita and Northwood swimmers blaze in Loyola Invite at USC

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