By Pete Borello

Although neither local club claimed a team title, several youngsters from both the Covington and Los Altos Golf & Country Club swim teams won individual titles last month at their respective league championship meets.

The Covington Swim Team placed second to Peninsula Covenant Aquatics in the five-member West Bay Swim League Championships, held July 26 at Sequoia High School in Redwood City.

Without an aquatic center since the demolition of Covington Pool in February 2001, the 160-member team has adopted the rallying cry “Homeless… but still dangerous.” And none of the Covington’s swimmers proved more dangerous than Stephen Yu, who established two new league records at the meet.

“When he came to us two years ago, he was just learning to swim,” Covington head coach Greg Hernandez said of Yu. “Now he’s one of the fastest swimmers in the region (for his age group). It’s incredible.”

Yu, competing in the boys 7-8 division, claimed the 25-yard backstroke and 25 butterfly in record-breaking times. He swam the back in 17.40 seconds (topping a 30-year old record by just over half a second) and the butterfly in 16.20 (crushing a 1999 record by more than a second). Yu’s teammate, Tom Kremer, also broke the fly record, finishing in second place with a 16.68.

Covington’s Nick Trowbridge and Brandon Conroy also set new league standards on their way to victories. Trowbridge, swimming in the boys 11-12 division, broke his own record in the 50 back with a time of 30.75 (he swam 31.49 last year). Conroy, in the boys 9-10 division, swam the 50 fly in 31.80 (beating a 30-year-old mark by nearly two seconds). Luke Powers, another Covington swimmer, also broke the old record with second-place time of 33.30.

Powers placed first in another event, though, winning the 50 freestyle in 31.40.

Other Covington boys winning events included Daniel Conroy in the 11-12 50 breaststroke (34.16); Matt Burke in the 9-10 50 back (39.39); and Kremer in the 7-8 25 free (15.30).

Jessie Ho led the Covington girls, capturing three events in the 7-8 division. She won the 25 free (17.03), 25 back (19.96) and 25 fly (20.01).

“She’s just a great racer who can just put her head down and swim,” Hernandez said. “She was awesome.”

Veronica Tse claimed a pair of 11-12 races — the 50 free (27.58) and 50 fly (31.11). Also posting wins for the Covington girls: Haley Bridges in the 9-10 50 free (31.86); Lindsay Tice in the 15-18 50 fly (28.64) and Julia Fish in the 13-14 50 back (30.56).

Unlike Covington, the Los Altos Golf and Country Club team does have its own pool (though the club’s golf course is out of commission for renovations).

But the team, in its 50th year, doesn’t have nearly as many swimmers (about 50 fewer) and 12 of the starters weren’t able to attend the July 27 Peninsula Interclub Swim League championship meet at Menlo-Atherton High. As a result, Los Altos — which took third during the dual-meet season — placed fifth at the league meet.

“We’re disappointed with the outcome, but not the effort,” said Erin Inkster, one of the team’s four coaches and the niece of LPGA star Juli Inkster. “They all swam so well and it was nice to see all of them better their times.”

This included Evan Dellinger, who broke his own club record in the 11-12 boys 50 free by clocking a 25.5. He also won the 50 individual medley.

Stewart Fielding claimed two events in the boys 13-14 division: the 50 free and 50 breast (breaking a club record).

Kevin Endersby, the team’s other winner on the boys’ side, prevailed in the 25 yard free.

The Los Altos girls’ top finisher proved to be Becca Closs, who placed third in the 15-16 50 back.

Inkster, who coaches the swimmers with Christin Lueder and Sherwin Baghai, also praised the efforts of several other boys and girls who made dramatic time improvements: Chris Zeisler (age 9), Ryan Ford (16), Hillary Smith (12), Megan Endersby (14), Riley Zeisler (7) and Tyler Corah (11).