Laguna Beach swim teams shine

Laguna Beach High swimmers set school records and the boys’ team earned a top-five placement Saturday at the finals of the CIF Southern Section Swimming Championships at Riverside City College.

The Laguna boys’ team tied for fourth place in the Division 2 team standings with Aliso Niguel. La Verne Damien won the division championship.

The Laguna girls’ team finished 16th in the Division 2 team standings. Irvine Crean Lutheran won the division title.

Laguna diver Liv Mitchell set the pace for the Breakers by winning the Division 2 diving championship May 9 at RCC.

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Girls

School records set at the CIF meet: 200 Medley Relay (Harper Dix, Abby Cohn, Kasey Karkoska, Kayla Whitelock, 1:51.00); 100-yard backstroke (Kasey Karkoska, 57.02); 400 free relay - 3:37.65 (Dix, Whitelock, Claire Sonne, Karkoska, 3:37.65); Diving (Liv Mitchell, 502 points).

“This year was a fast one on the girls side at the Division 2 CIF Championships,” Laguna co-Coach Beth Weber said. “Going into prelims, I was a little surprised by the depth of the competition for the girls. There were a lot of fast teams this year with really fast relays. Despite this, our girls swam really well setting three new school records, and our diver, Liv Mitchell, set a new school diving record (502 points) and placed first, overall, giving the girls’ team some valuable points.

“Liv did amazing on [May 9]. It was back-and-forth for awhile after the first round of cuts, and Liv held her composure so well. She finished strong and never lost her focus. So impressive.”

All three Laguna girls’ relay teams advanced from prelims May 13 to the consolation finals Saturday. The 200 medley relay team swam its new school record time (1:51.00) at prelims, and took 15th (1:52.40) in the final. The 200 free relay team (Whitelock, Claire Kelly, Bella Baldridge, Sonne) turned in its fastest time of the season (1:41.28) at prelims and finished 16th (1:41.93) in the consolation finals. The 400 free relay placed 13th with its new school-record time (3:37.65).

Also Saturday, Karkoska placed 15th (57.33) in the 100 butterfly consolation final and took seventh (57.13) in the 100 backstroke championship final, moving up two places from prelims where she swam her school-record time (57.02). Dix placed 14th (58.31) in the 100 backstroke, moving up four spots from prelims.

“The girls were up against some tough competition this year but they all swam their best times of the year at CIF,” Weber said. “I am so proud of their accomplishments this year and look forward to next year.”

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Boys

School records set at the CIF meet: 100-yard breaststroke (Max Morgan, 57.70).

“There was really great competition this year in finals on the boys side which made it exciting and extremely close for the top six teams,” Weber said.

Both Laguna boys’ freestyle relay teams made it to Saturday’s championship finals (top nine teams). The 200 free relay team (Morgan, Billy Renner, Camden Benson, Cameron Karkoska) placed seventh in the championship final (1:27.82). The team had turned in its fastest time of the season (1:26.39) at prelims. The same foursome teamed in the 400 free relay team and took sixth (3:11.28), and had set another season-best time (3:09.95) at prelims.

Morgan placed third in the championship final in the 100 free with a personal-best time of 45.96. He was ninth (58.91) in the championship final of the 100 breaststroke and set the new school-record time (57.70) at prelims. Karkoska placed second in the 200 individual medley (1:51.11) and was seventh in the 100 breaststroke (58.26). Renner placed 14th (48.07) in the 100 free consolation final, moving up three places from prelims.

“I’m so proud of their top five finish at CIF,” Weber staid of the boys’ team. “We went into CIF hoping for a top-10 finish, and those boys swam their hearts out and surpassed their goal. “The boys’ outstanding performance in prelims is what put them in position to place in the top five on Saturday.”

Both the Laguna girls’ and boys’ teams won the Orange Coast League championship earlier this month.

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Track and Field

The Breakers will be represented Saturday at the CIF-SS Track and Field Championships at Cerritos College in Norwalk.

The Breakers competed at the CIF-SS Division 4 prelims Saturday at Carpinteria High. Top-five finishes for the Breakers included Coco Putnam (57.32) who was second in the girls’ 400-meter dash, and Jackie Cenan was third in the shot put (36-feet-10.25).

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Boys’ Volleyball

The Breakers had their postseason aspirations dashed Saturday in Pasadena as South Pasadena (Rio Hondo League No. 2) rallied for a 19-25, 25-19, 27-25, 25-21 victory in a Division 2 quarterfinal-round game.

Senior middle blocker Tyler Alter and junior outside hitter Pete Obradovich both had 13 kills each, sophomore opposite Sam Burgi nine kills, senior opposite Liam Christiansen eight kills, and junior middle blocker Barry Greenough four kills. Obradovich had 10 digs, junior libero Cole Paxson a team-high 20 digs, and senior setter Isaac Wulff 40 assists.

Laguna, champion of the Orange Coast League and the No. 2-seed in the tournament, fell to 19-8.

The Breakers had reached the quarterfinals by sweeping visiting El Toro (Sea View League No. 2) May 14, 25-18, 25-22, 25-23. Burgi had 13 kills, Alter and Obradovich (10 kills) nine kills apiece, Paxson 16 digs, and Wulff five kills, six digs and 35 assists.

The Breakers opened the playoffs May 10 and swept Glendale Hoover, 25-14, 25-19, 25-16.

Top-seeded and defending Division 2 champion Oak Park will take on Burroughs/Burbank in the Southern Section final at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Cerritos College in Norwalk. Oak Park swept fourth-seeded West Ranch (3-0) and third-seeded Burroughs swept South Pasadena (3-0) in Wednesday’s semifinal round.

The Breakers still have a shot at receiving an at-large berth to next week’s CIF Southern California Regionals tournament. Playoff brackets will be announced Sunday.

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Boys’ Golf

The Breakers shot a team score of 406 and finished in 11th-place among 19 teams Monday at the CIF-SS Southern Division Team Championship at the Mile Square Park Classic Golf Course in Fountain Valley.

Kyle Sharp had a low team score of 76 for the Orange Coast League champions. Other scores for the Breakers: Max Brown, 82; Dante Fornaro, 93; Chase Gioffredi, 84; Will Uzelac, 82; Adam Mundy, 82.

“We had a great season as we were undefeated in league and captured the title,” Coach Scott Finn said. “We had three of our golfers (Sharp, Brown, Fornaro) advance into the first-round of CIF (Southern Division Individual Regional May 9). Our future looks really bright as we have a young team full of guys who play golf full time.”

The Southern Division Team Championship was won by Long Beach Wilson which posted a low team score of 347. Huntington Beach was second (372). North Torrance, the 20th team to qualify for the tournament, withdrew from the event.

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Girls’ Sand Volleyball

The Breakers took on Redondo Union in the second-round of the Interscholastic Beach Volleyball League postseason Thursday. The score wasn’t available at press time.

The Breakers, champions of the South Coast Division, started the playoffs May 9 and swept Santa Monica Pacifica Christian (3-0).

At the IBVL Pairs Championship Saturday at Dockweiler State Beach in Playa del Rey, two Laguna teams, Katelyn Carballo/Cameron Dorn and Alexandra McKeown/Katie Gavin, reached the semifinals and earned bronze medals.

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michael.sciacca@latimes.com

Twitter: @MikeSciacca