Gunn swimmer finds a workaround for injured hand

Jonathan Affeld broke his hand in a swim deck accident some 6-7 weeks ago. But he didn’t allow that impediment to affect him for all that long. Last Saturday the Gunn sophomore took second in the 500 freestyle and fifth in the 200 free at the Central Coast Section swimming and diving championships.

Affeld is one of 14 entrants from local schools, swimmers and divers from Gunn, Palo Alto, Menlo-Atherton and Castilleja, to qualify for individual events at this weekend’s state swimming and diving championships in Clovis. In addition to the individual entrants, Gunn and Palo Alto qualified in all three girls relay events, M-A in the girls 200 and 500 free relays and the Gunn boys in the 400 free relay.

Affeld’s injury occurred when he was pulling a cover over the pool. He tripped over a gear bag and broke his left hand using it to brace himself. He missed a week of practice, then got back in the water with a waterproof cast covering his left hand.

His progress at getting back in competitive swimming shape went slowly.

“I couldn’t use my hand much without pain,” Affeld said.

He had competed in a variety of different events before the injury. But afterward, in making his comeback from the broken hand, he concentrated on the freestyle, a stroke he was able to execute the best with the cast on.

Due to the pain he experienced, his coaches gave him alternate exercises to get back in shape, leg work and abdomen work, exercises that paid off down the road.

“The leg work helped a lot,” Affeld said. “Before the injury I didn’t use my legs that much.”

He got the cast off the week before the CCS meet and went into the CCS trials full of uncertainty.

“I wasn’t sure where I would be,” Affeld said.

Turns out he lowered his previous best time in the 500 free by 13 seconds with a time of 4:30.50, a time good enough to place him 12th on the state meet psych sheet.

So what can he expect at state, another big drop in time?

“You never know when you’re coming off an emotionally charged meet like CCS,” Affeld said. “But I’m hopeful I can drop my time and break the 4:30 barrier.”

Among the other local entrants, M-A’s Izzi Henig, a double winner at CCS, goes in with the second-fastest time in the 100 free and tied for second-fastest in the 50 free.

Palo Alto’s Zoe Lusk is seeded fifth in both the 200 individual medley and the 100 backstroke. Gunn freshman Melanie Julia is fifth in the 100 breaststroke.

Gunn’s Sarah Snyder has the eighth-fastest qualifying time in the 200 free and 10th in the 100 butterfly.

Palo Alto freshman Max Valasek goes in with the seventh-highest score in boys diving.

Gunn is seeded fourth in the girls 200 medley relay, fifth in the 400 free relay and 12th in the 200 free relay. Palo Alto is fifth in the 200 free relay, 14th in the medley relay and 27th in the 400 free relay. M-A goes in 14th in the 400 relay and 18th in the 200.

Other local swimmers entered in the state meet include Castilleja’s Marie Williams (200 IM and 100 back), Gunn’s Theo Makler (200 IM), Gunn’s Shogo Moridaira (200 IM and 100 breast), Gunn’s Ashley Stahmer (50 free and 100 free), Palo Alto’s Claire Lin (50 free), Gunn’s Milan Hilde-Jones (100 fly and 100 back) and Gunn’s Grace Tramack (200 free and 500 free).