By the end of the Bob Miyashiro Invitational, the 13-school swim tournament at Santa Rosa Junior College, two names could not be missed: Samantha Fehr and Filuka Houborg.
Fehr, the sophomore breaststroke specialist, and Houborg, the freshman sensation, stole the spotlight with performances that broke multiple meet and team records.
Their standout swims highlighted a Hawks’ squad that showed enough star power and depth for the coach to recalibrate his team’s possibilities.
The Las Positas women’s swim and dive team finished second at the Bob Miyashiro Invitational at Santa Rosa Junior College from March 19-21. Fehr won six of her 13 races — all in breaststroke. She broke three meet records and two team records.
Right behind her, Houborg broke two meet records and three team records, and earned personal bests. Houborg won six races, posting wins in individual medley, freestyle, and medley relays.
Fehr and Houborg combined to account for four of the top five performances on the women’s side of the Invitational.
On the men’s side, freshman Nathanael Ridosko captured first place in three freestyle events. Sophomore Larwence Thomas earned silver in his first meet of the season.
“We go to this meet every year, and it’s usually pretty good competition,” head coach Jason Craighead said. “We wanted to see how we stacked up and how we could perform — and we did a little better than expected.”
At the halfway point of the season, the Hawks are now preparing to host an even larger meet of their own. The Bob Miyashiro Invitational featured 13 schools — the largest meet Las Positas has competed in so far this year. But the upcoming Hawk Invitational is set to bring in 23 teams, making it the largest meet in Northern California.
This event will be more than just an opportunity for broader exposure. It will serve as a key test of the team’s ability to compete at a higher level, while giving Craighead valuable insight into which swimmers have the potential to make a splash at the 3C2A State Championship in April and May.
“We’re working through a few question marks with some people in their individual events to see what’s going to be best for them at championships,” Craighead said. “The Hawk Invite will give us good competition to test out some of those ideas.”
Coming into the competition, Fehr already held the school records for the 50 and 100-yard breaststroke. By the time she left, she had shattered both. On top of that, she broke her meet record, team record, and personal best in the 100-yard event, finishing with a time of one minute, four seconds. In both prelims and finals, she came out first in all of her breaststroke events. She was also part of the winning 200 and 400-yard medley relays.
Fehr set meet records in the 50 (29.76), 100 (1:04.67), and 200 (2:20.89) breaststroke races. Those are all personal best times. She also set a personal best in the 50-yard freestyle (26.02), and her leadoff splits in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays (26.15 and 59.77, respectively).
“A huge step forward,” Craighead said. “So she’s pretty pumped too. Really pumped. It was a much bigger step forward than I think any of us anticipated.
“She works really hard. She’s really focused and really dedicated and really wants to do well. They’re all very competitive ladies. Sam shows it more than others. You can see the intensity all the time.”
Houborg also delivered a decorated performance for Las Positas. She won the 500-yard free style in 5:10.25 and the 1,650-yard mile in 17:44.43 — both new meet and team records.
But freestyle wasn’t where she stopped. Over the course of the season, a new skillset has emerged. Her primary stroke was always freestyle, this season she has been winning more than the one event.
“You have to give her a lot of credit for stepping out of her comfort zone,” Craighead said. “She has good experience, she’s had good success with the distance freestyle, and now it’s like, what else can we do? Right?”
Houborg also earned gold in two medley relays. Her leadoff split of 28.55 kickstarted the 200-yard medley and she swam a 1:01.24-second split in the 400. She also came out on top in the 400-yard IM (4:43.48).
The freshman totaled seven personal bests across all her events: 1,650 Free, 400 IM, 100 butterfly (1:02.94), 800 freestyle relay split (1:57.59), 200 medley relay split, and 400 medley relay split. She narrowly missed her 500-yard freestyle personal best by tenths of a second (5:10.25).
“She’s branching out into events like the 400 IM and 200 backstroke, which adds variety and a new challenge,” Craighead said. “If we just did the same thing over and over, we wouldn’t progress—but this seems to be paying off really well for her.”
The Fehr-Houborg combination added up to the reason the women’s team placed second overall. It didn’t come so easily for the men, who ranked fifth overall, led by Ridosko, who earned accolades of his own.
Ridosko won two freestyle events. In the 200-yard freestyle, he set a new personal best of 1:41.89. In the 500-yard freestyle, he set another personal best at 4:36.01, which also set a meet record. He contributed to relays, including the 200 and 800 freestyle relays, as well as the 200 and 400 medley relays.
“He hasn’t been that fast in two years,” Craighead admitted. “He is a competitor and a team player. He doesn’t want to let the team down; he just likes to win, he likes to get after it.”
Making his season debut, Larwence Thomas finished second in the 100 IM with a time of 52.97 seconds—his new personal best. He also logged two more individual bests in the 400-yard freestyle relay (47.58) and the 100-yard butterfly (51.61), the most physically demanding stroke.
Though both ends of the team delivered, there’s a clear difference between them.
“Our men are getting overshadowed by the women a little bit,” Craighead said. “And that’s fantastic, because it’s been the other way around for quite some time.”
Coming up, Las Positas hosts the biggest swim meet in Northern California: The Hawk Invite. Last season, the men’s team came in second with 424.8 points, trailing Sierra, who had 457.9. The women ranked 11th (312.3), just behind San Joaquin (322.8).
Following the Bob Mayashiro Invite, Craighead is optimistic going into the home meet.
“They’re ready, they’re excited, they’re pumped up,” Craighead said. “More than anything, they got a good psychological boost—they were in need of it.”
The results of the invite will give a glimpse into the shape Las Positas can be in for the State Championships.
Last year at state, the Hawks women’s team placed 13th, the men 12th, out of 35 schools, highlighted by Makenzie Duffins’ school record in the 1000-yard freestyle, and performances by Lawrence Thomas and Christopher Guidi, who broke two personal bests in the 200-yard butterfly and 400-yard IM.
The only returnee from last year’s state championship roster is Thomas. Last year at state, he set seven personal bests, including the 50-, 100-, and 200-yard butterfly (23.78, 51.78, 1:55.20), freestyle relay leadoffs in the 200 and 400 yards (21.73, 47.95), and medley relay leadoffs in the 200 and 400 yards (24.49, 54.34). He now has another chance to surpass them once more.
With Houborg, Fehr, and Ridosko by his side, the team has a plausible chance to redeem themselves from last year.
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TOP PHOTO: Samantha Fehr and Filuka Houborg powered the Hawks women to a second-place finish at the Bob Miyashiro Invitational. And they’re a big reason Las Positas feels good about the waves it can make this year. (Graphic by Annie Moore/ The Express)
Annie Moore is the Sports Editor of The Express. Follow her on X @SanJosAnnie.
