NSU University School’s Vallmitjana wins two gold medals at state 1A meet

NSU University School junior Juan Vallmitjana went into the 200-yard freestyle as the top seed.

But after one lap, Vallmitjana sat in eighth place.

Then he started creeping up the rankings. By the time the swimmers were on the last 25 yards, Vallmitjana closed the gap entirely and beat second place by 0.49 seconds.

Saturday night at the Class 1A state swimming and diving championships at the Florida Aquatics Swimming and Training center in Ocala, the junior achieved gold in both the 200 and the 500-yard freestyle. He swam a 1:37.34 in the 200 and 4:23.80 in the 500, helping his team reach eighth in the team standings with 96 points.

“(Vallmitjana) is an incredible talent, probably the best talent in the whole field here,” NSU coach Gianluca Alberani said. “He knows exactly that he prepared for (his races), so he just goes and executes and doesn’t get distracted by other people. He knows exactly where he is, and that’s his main strength.”

Vallmitjana had an outstanding performance in the 2024 1A state championships. The then-sophomore finished in second in the 500-yard freestyle and third in the 200-yard freestyle.

That wasn’t enough for Vallmitjana. The goal was always to come back and contend for gold.

“Definitely I was looking forward to (aiming for first),” Vallmitjana said. “Coming into this year, it was a goal from the whole year of training, so I was happy looking up and seeing the gold.”

Vallmitjana wasn’t the only NSU swimmer to leave Ocala with a gold medal, though. Sophomore Naiyla Di Sarno was seeded last in the 100-yard breaststroke finals but beat the whole pool with a 1:02.68.

This was Di Sarno’s first gold medal, and since she has two more years of high school swimming, she said winning gold this year helps her mentally. Now that she has done it once, she said she can just go out and show what she is truly capable of.

“I had a tough prelims because I was in my head a lot,” Di Sarno said. “I just wanted to go for it for the finals. I knew I had it, I just wanted to show it.”

Junior Maria Camilla Perez got fifth place finish in the 100 backstroke (56.16) and sixth in the 200 individual medley (2:05.54). Perez and Di Sarno’s finishes helped the girls team earn eighth with 77 points.

Alberani noted that the team has been building toward this moment and the program has the chance to continue working its way up the ranks. The team has just one senior departing, Mason Starkman, who placed fourth in boys diving with 405.85 points. Sophomore Andres Winterman, who finished second with 461.75 points, will continue making an impact through diving without Starkman, though.

“I think this is part of the process that we are trying to build with (NSU University School) for the past few years,” Alberani said. “Of course, individually we did outstanding stuff. So the next step should be creating a team that will be here not just to finish top eight, but to be in the top five, if not the top three.”

Pine Crest School earned fourth in both the girls and boys with 136.5 and 135 points, respectively.

“Going into this meet, we were trying to be top five,” coach Mariusz Podkoscielny said. “We have an experienced team, but we have a small team compared to years past. Our expectations were exceeded this week, so we’re very happy.”

The program earned most of its points through its relay teams, something Podkoscielny said hasn’t been an emphasis for the team for long. All six of the team’s relays made the finals, with the girls 400 free relay earning bronze, the team best finish of the day.

Aside from the relays, Pine Crest had a few kids podium individually. Senior Sara Miller finished eighth in the 200 IM with a 2:08.87. Senior Parker Jacobson-Bertanzetti placed fifth in the 50 free with a 24.01. Junior Brady Baur’s 50.62 in the 100 butterfly earned him seventh place.

Podkoscielny said the team has a lot of seniors, and the team will size down next year, but he said the program has some middle schoolers that will start working their way into the fold more often.

“We’re very confident in the (swimmers) that we have, but we’re very, very thin,” Podkoscielny said. “Most of our team next year is going to be middle school. … We have quite a few middle schoolers that are already here getting experience.”