A big reason the Granite Hills High School girls swim team is undefeated in three Grossmont Hills League dual meets is the presence of junior butterfly specialist Erin Kluge in the water.
Kluge is undefeated in individual events and relays so far this season and helped the Eagles set a new school record in the 200-yard individual medley in a March 5 dual meet against Grossmont High School.
The new record time is 1:52.37 with freshman Brooke McCoy swimming the backstroke leg, senior Rachel Sapper swimming breaststroke, Kluge at butterfly and sophomore Izzy Cox with the anchor freestyle leg.
Kluge won all four of her events in last Friday’s 130-56 dual meet victory against visiting Valhalla, timing 2:11.17 in the 200 individual medley and 59.17 in the100 butterfly while helping her teammates win the medley relay in 1:54.34 and the 200 freestyle relay in 1:46.46.
Kluge’s teammates in the medley relay included McCoy, Sapper and Cox and Delaney Fry, Aidyn Gaeir and Cox in the 4×50 freestyle relay.
Granite Hills coach Cathy Elgas is optimistic that Kluge can remain undefeated on the season.
“I don’t think anyone can beat Erin in league in any event or the relays, but we like to take one meet at a time,” Elgas said.
The goal for the medley relay unit is to dip under 1:50.
“They will beat (the school record) by a ton when they are rested and have tech suits on,” Elgas said.
Kluge said her goal is to advance to the Olympic Trials and be part of a Division I college swim team.
“I would make a great candidate because I always give my 100 percent at practice and go above and beyond with extra conditioning,” Kluge stated on her Next College Student Athlete recruiting profile. “I have broken four school records and one league record so far and am on the road to break more. I also have a 4.5 grade-point average and will continue to maintain good grades.”
Besides the school record set in the medley relay at the March 5 dual meet against the Foothillers, Kluge also swam to winning times in the IM (2:11.12), butterfly (58.48) and 400 freestyle relay (3:50.85).
Granite Hills recorded first-place finishes in 10 of the 11 swimming events contested in the girls meet against neighborhood rival Valhalla.
