2015 CIF-SS Division III Preview – Pasadena Poly and Rio Mesa Strong on Paper

2015 California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Swimming & Diving Championships – Division III

  • Diving: Results
  • Swimming: Prelims – Wednesday, May 13, 2015; Finals – Thursday, May 14, 2015
  • Location: Riverside City College
  • Defending Champions: Crean Lutheran (girls), JW North (boys) – 2014 Results
  • Live Results: Available
  • Championship Central

Division III

Now that Crean Lutheran has moved up to Division II, the field is wide open for a new champion in the girls’ meet. JW North, the 2014 boys’ meet champion, seems to have lost a good deal of its depth. Scoring out the psych sheet, it would seem that Polytechnic School and Rio Mesa have a lock on the respective girls’ and boys’ division titles. Both Poly and Rio Mesa get a big bump from their divers in a division that only fields between a half and three-quarters of the potential number of finalists in the diving event. And although they are unlikely to dominate the individual events the way Crean and North did last year, they both have enough depth to score big points in relays and with multiple “A” finalists.

With all the realignment that took place this season, Division III looks quite different from last year. Here are the psych sheet rankings:

Girls’ Meet Psych Sheet Boys’ Meet Psych Sheet
Poly/Pasadena 302 Rio Mesa 249
Walnut 221 Walnut 198
Keppel 215 Mark Keppel 192
W Torrance 178 Gabrielino 176
Rio Mesa 174 Calabasas 168
Royal 168 Kennedy 152
Marlborough 162 Webb 147
Beverly Hills 146 Moorpark 139
Immaculate Heart 143 Santa Monica 127
Viewpoint 131 Flintridge Prep 115

 

Races To Watch

Freestyle Events

Michelle Martin of Mark Keppel (24.04) leads the field in the 50 by a half-second, while Cindy Ngo from West Torrance (24.66/53.80) and Meghan Go of Immaculate Heart (24.70/53.09) are among the contenders for both the 50 and the 100.

Washington State-bound Jasmine Margetts of North Torrance is the heavy favorite in the 200 free with 1:51.51, while second seeded Theresa Lo of Walnut (1:54.51), who is headed to MIT, is top seed in the 500 (4:58.73).

Adrian Hui of The Webb Schools comes into the boys’ meet with the fastest seed time in the 50 (21.51), while third-seeded Aaron Bauer of Pacifica/Garden Grove (21.96) leads the entrants in the 100 (47.32). Nathan Ketcheside of Riverside Poly (21.54/47.93) is a factor in both races as well.

Moorpark’s Roger Kriegl (1:42.33/4:44.14) is the far-and-away favorite in the 200/500 freestyle events.

Backstroke

North Torrance’s Margetts leads the qualifiers in the 100 back with 56.31, but she will be challenged by sophomore Deanne Umbay of Sierra Canyon (56.48), last year’s runner-up in the event.

The boys’ race could prove to be an exciting contest among Jerry Chen of Walnut (52.01), Calvin Giang of Gabrielino (52.46), and JP Mortenson from Windward (53.60); Mortenson is the highest-seeded returning “A” finalist from last year.

Breaststroke

Sophomore Cailey Renken of Camarillo leads the qualifiers in the girls’ 100 breast; her seed time (1:02.07) is more than 5 seconds faster than what she went in finals last year. Beverly Hills junior Amy Okada (1:03.67) is second seed.

Moorpark junior Nicholas Masinsin has the top seed time (58.73), but JW North’s Javier Bernal (59.68) is the one to keep an eye on. Jacob Christensen of Valencia/Placentia is also in the mix (59.61).

Butterfly

The most competitive event on the girls’ side is the 100 fly, where, with the exception of top-seeded Okada of Beverly Hills (54.92) who may have a shot at the D3 record, the next 6-7 swimmers are all very closely seeded: Mark Keppel’s Martin (56.70), Xavier Prep’s Shelby Andrade (57.54), Ksenia Afonicheva of West Torrance (57.58), and Bianca Preciado of California HS (57.63), just to name a few.

Crosley Wong of Mark Keppel (51.38) comes in with the top time on the boys’ side, followed by Webb’s Hui( 52.07) and Santa Fe’s Seth Villeda (52.09).

IM

Sierra Canyon’s Umbay (2:07.17) is the top seed by 1.5 seconds, while Heather Grotzinger of Pasadena Poly, the highest returning scorer from 2014, and Ksenia Afonicheva of West Torrance are seeded 1/100 apart at second and third.

North’s Bernal (1:54.28) was third last year, but comes in with the top time by more than 3 seconds this time around. Giang of Gabrilino (1:57.60) and Wong of Mark Keppel (1:58.31) will try to challenge him.

 

In This Story

0
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …

Read More »