Thanks again to Anne Lepesant for covering the CIF Southern Section swimming finals this weekend. Division 3 and 4 are done, with Division 1 and 2 finals (theoretically, the biggest schools) remaining to be swum on Saturday.
CIF-SS Division 4 Finals
Southern California’s division 4 high school championships wrapped up tonight at Riverside Aquatic Center.
It was an exciting meet in that, on both the girls’ and the boys’ side, the teams that led throughout the meet both finished second, whereas the teams that dominated the relays ended up breaking through into first place.
GIRLS
By the time the meet opened Orcutt Academy had already racked up massive diving points and led the field before the swimming had even begun. The 200 medley relay set the stage for the excitement to come as Cerritos squeaked out a victory in 1:52.56, just touching out Garden Grove by .09. Natalie Wong (sophomore) was 28.92 in back; Alyssa Boey (junior) 32.84 in breast; Kiri Harvey (sophomore) 26.03 in fly; and Connie Wu (senior) brought it home with a 24.77. Citrus Valley girls finished third.
In the 200 free, top-seeded Alverno junior Kali Kearns lowered her prelims time by 3.4 seconds and beat the rest of the field by several body lengths, clocking in at 1:55.03. Emily Ayers (sophomore, Orcutt Academy) and Mykaela Delgado (sophomore, Trinity Classica) finished second and third.
Cerritos sophomore Kiri Harvey, going after the meet record in the 200 IM, dropped nearly 3 seconds from prelims and swam a personal best 2:06.29. Although she missed the record by only .9 she still has two years to get it done. Orcutt Academy junior Emily Mathis followed in second, and Desert Christian senior Kimberly Kuni rounded off the podium.
The 50 free was a blur. The top 3 finishers all went under 25 and seemed to touch the wall at the same time. In the end, it was Victor Valley freshman Tianna Jorgenson with the win. Sophomore Natalie Wong of Cerritos and junior Olivia Hynes of Grace Brethren took home second and third, respectively.
A lot of emotion in the 100 fly tonight: the crowd got excited when Citrus Valley senior Kailee Mora looked like she might break Kirstie Chen’s 2008 record. Out in front by nearly a half a pool length on the final 25, she did indeed touch the wall in a faster time but was immediately disqualified for a 15 meter violation. Desert Christian senior Kimberly Kuni picked up the win in 57.57, out in front of Natalie Contreras (sophomore, Garden Grove) and Alexandria Kwong (sophomore, Orcutt Academy).
In an absolutely stunning finish, Grace Brethren junior Olivia Hynes touched out freshman Tianna Jorgenson of Victor Valley by .02 to win the 100 free in 53.31. Kirsten Miller (a junior from Mayfair) came in third.
Kiri Harvey had her sights set on the 500 free record (of 4:59.31 from 2002). In her own estimation, she got excited, took it out too fast, and couldn’t answer with the back half. She won the event handily but wasn’t able to etch her name in the record book this year. Only a sophomore, she has several more chances. Her 5:04.64 win brought more points to Cerritos who was slowly inching its way to the top of the leaderboard. Alverno junior Kali Kearns finished second, and Orcott Academy Emily Ayers was third.
The Cerritos girls won the 200 yard free relay, just narrowly missing the meet record (1:41.56). Their 1:41.80 finish was comfortably in front of second place Orcutt Academy who was, in turn, comfortably in front of Malibu.
Citrus Valley senior Kailee Mora got her win in the 100 back when she went 58.78, a full two-and-a-half seconds in front of Alexandria Kwong (sophomore, Orcutt Academy) and Megan Ma (freshman, Cerritos).
Emily Mathis (junior, Orcutt Academy) had a strong second 50 to win the girls 100 breast in 1:05.75, well ahead of Leanna Breamble (senior, Orcutt Acacemy) and Sofia Contreras (senior, Garden Grove).
The Cerritos winning 400 free relay, from Left-Right: Natalie Wong (sophomore, 55.17) Connie Wu (senior, 54.54), Roxanna Yu (sophomore, 55.19), and Kiri Harvey. Their victory in the meet’s final event swung the score and pushed Cerritos to the CIFSS title.
Scores were announced before the night’s final event, the 400 free. Orcutt Academy was still ahead, but another relay win from Cerritos was enough to swing the lead. Natalie Wong (sophomore, 55.17) Connie Wu (senior, 54.54), Roxanna Yu (sophomore, 55.19), and Kiri Harvey (sophomore, 52.67) combined to give Cerritos the victory in 3:37.57, .48 off the record. (With three sophomores it’s likely they will have another couple of opportunities to go for that record.) Second was Orcutt Academy; third was Citrus Valley.
Top 5 girls’ teams in CIF-SS Division 4:
1 Cerritos 415
2 Orcutt Academy 412
3 Garden Grove 241.50
4 Citrus Valley 230
5 Malibu 139.50
BOYS
Don Antonio Lugo came into the swimming part of the meet with 54 diving points and continued to build on their lead picking up points in many finals. It was Cerritos boys, though, who won the 200 medley relay. Angel Alcala (sophomore, 24.50), Ian Reyes (senior, 28.72), Joshua Kartawinata (junior, 24.96) and Angelo Victorio (sophomore, 23.09) combined for 1:41.27, just barely in front of Chaffey and Citrus Valley.
Malibu swept two of the top three places in the 200 free. Sophomore Logan Hotchkiss had a very strong second half and put up a 1:45.54 for the win. Classmate Alec Wilimovsky was second; Alec Kruse (senior, Nordhoff) was third.
Chassé Sodemann, a junior from Ontario Christian, won the 200 IM in 2:00.12, ahead of Citrus Valley senior Kyle Cauldren and Apple Valley Christian junior Felipe Pereira. The three were neck and neck after the backstroke leg but Chassé split a 34 breast, several seconds faster than anyone else in the heat, and no one could catch him after that.
San Dimas senior Austin Garcia was the sprint king of the evening. He narrowly (.09!!) missed breaking the D4 record in the 50 free (21.05) when he won in 21.14. Temescal Canyon senior Devin Deckert finished second; La Mirada senior Evan Klansek, third.
With a very strong second 50, Angel Alcala, a sophomore from Cerritos, took the 100 fly in 51.51 ahead of Marcel Friedrich (junior, Chaffey) and Jesse Hayward (senior, Temescal Canyon).
Austin Garcia’s second win of the night came in the 100 free. The San Dimas senior, who also won the 50, took his 100 out in 22.87. He was so far in front that everyone else ran out of pool trying to chase him down. He finished in 47.42 ahead of Temescal Canyon senior Devin Deckert and Chaffey senior Eric Aguirre. This race should look very different next year with all the seniors gone (15/18 of the finalists are in their final year of high school).
Logan Hotchkiss of Malibu logged his second win of the night in a solid 500 free that he led from beginning to end. He touched at 4:46.45, in front of Sean Lundin (La Mirada) and Alec Wilimovsky (Malibu) who finished together seven seconds back.
Left to right: senior Jesse Hayward (21.99), junior Joseph Rivas (22.63), senior Austin DeJong (22.55), and senior Devin Deckert (21.53).from Temescal Canyon, who broke the Division 4 Record in the 200 free relay.
Whereas the Cerritos girls narrowly missed the meet record in the 200 free relay, Temescal Canyon’s boys narrowly made theirs. Their 1:28.70 erased an eight-year-old Oaks Christian record of 1:28.72. Ocean View and San Dimas finished second and third, respectively. The record-setting relay was comprised of senior Jesse Hayward (21.99), junior Joseph Rivas (22.63), senior Austin DeJong (22.55), and senior Devin Deckert (21.53).
Chaffey junior Marcel Friedrich wont he 100 backstroke at the Division 4 Championship meet.
The results of the 100 back saw a role reversal; this time Chaffey junior Marcel Friedrich was first (53.15) and Angel Alcala (the sophomore from Cerritos who won the 100 fly) was second. Patrick Wilber, a junior from St. Bonaventure, was third.
Dual event champion Chassé Sodemann, who won the 200 IM and the 100 Breaststroke.
Chassé Sodemann picked up his second win, going under a minute in the 100 breast. The Ontario Christian junior clocked a 59.71, just .3 ahead of Edgar Chin (freshman, Fairmont) and John Trenary (junior, Temescal Canyon).
The Temescal Canyon boys (senior Jesse Hayward, 48.25; junior Joseph Rivas, 51.25; senior Austin DeJong, 49.43; and senior Devin Deckert,47.30) took the final event, the 400 free relay, in an impressive 3:16.23. Second place went to Don Antonio Lugo and third was Citrus Valley. As was the case with the girls, the final relay was what it took to move into first place. It took consistent good swimming from the entire team to win this meet.
Top 5 boys’ teams in CIF-SS Division 4:
1 Temescal Canyon 308
2 Don Antonio Lugo 287
3 Citrus Valley 282
4 Cerritos 208.50
5 San Dimas 171
Are the times for the girls races LC meters?
Jimmy John – all yards.