With the best prep swimmers from every Sac-Joaquin Section program across all divisions in attendance, Oakdale landed six top-18 relay finishes and two top-18 frosh-soph placements at the two-day SJS Swim Championships at Tokay High in Lodi.

Oakdale girls were the top finishing Stanislaus District team (15th overall), while the boys (21st overall) finished higher than every Stanislaus team but Merced and Modesto.

The event was dominated by large schools from the Sacramento area like St. Francis, Davis, Granite Bay, Rio Americano, Jesuit and Vacaville.

“You want to be in the pool with the best, and that’s what this meet gave us,” Oakdale coach Russ Van Cleave said. “We wanted to perform well in the finals and we did that.”

Oakdale’s relays landed solid times on May 12 to reach the consolation swims (9th-18th placements) during Saturday’s SJS Finals.

Oakdale’s girls exploded for big times on Saturday to finish 10th in both the 200 free (1 minute, 46.92 seconds) and 400 free (3:54.80) relays. Both times set new school records for the fastest ever swims in those events.

Kelsey Knollmueller, Stevie Cordoza, Katie Vanderburg and Alli Poff nabbed the honors, and will stay atop Van Cleave’s top-10 record list until another foursome can send them down a peg.

Oakdale’s 200 medley relay team of Cordoza, Alissa Burford, Vanderburg and Poff also finished 12th at the SJS finals, and sports the second fastest time in school history in that event as well.

The Oakdale boys saw Casey Whitely, Brandon Terwilliger, Braden Lee and Hank Walter also place 10th in the 200 free. The same foursome was 12th in the 200 medley relay and 18th in the 400 relay at the SJS Finals.

Ryan Jones led frosh-soph swimmers with a 10th place finish in the 200 Individual Medley. Will Cavanaugh was 13th in the 100 breast as well.

“I am very proud of the boys and girls,” Van Cleave said on Sunday. “Swimming is about a stop watch timing a child, and being in the pool with the best ones is going to improve our times.”