White winning continues at OCL swim finals

She’s not only the best girls’ swimmer at Estancia High, she’s quite possibly the best cheerleader the Eagles have to offer as well.

Senior Brandi White spent much of Wednesday’s Orange Coast League swimming finals behind the lane of teammates, offering cheers of encouragement.

“It being my last season, I just wanted to have as much fun and make the best of it,” White said. “I think it is really important [to cheer teammates]. For some of the swimmers, they’ll tell you afterward, ‘Oh, on my last 50, your cheering really pumped me up and made me work harder.’ That’s what we really do it for. It kind of pumps up the whole team and gives everyone a feeling of team and unity. We’re all in this together.”

White, the Orange Coast League co-MVP in soccer who will play that sport at Santiago Canyon College next year, was the three-time defending league champion in the girls’ backstroke. That reign ended Wednesday, as Laguna Beach senior Keira Dailey won it. White was second, in 1 minute, 5.09 seconds.

Still, there was a White who emerged as a champion at Costa Mesa High.

Brandi’s younger brother, Cobi, won the boys’ 50 freestyle in 22.34 seconds.

“I was super-proud of him,” Brandi said of Cobi, a sophomore. “I was proud to call him my brother. I was like, ‘That’s my brother!’ He’s just such a dork. I don’t know how he pulls it out of his butt, but he just works super-hard. When he has a goal, he’s super-determined and he gets it done.”

Cobi’s event win was one of two individual event victories for locals at league finals. Laguna Beach dominated, repeating as both boys’ and girls’ league champion.

Costa Mesa, led by sophomore Augie Cunningham, finished second on the boys’ side and third on the girls’ side. Estancia finished fourth in the six-team league in both genders.

Cobi White earned a pair of CIF Southern Section Division 2 consideration times, in both the 50 free and the 100 backstroke, where he finished third in 57.67 seconds.

“There’s not much to think about,” he said of his 50 freestyle win. “It’s a really short race, so you just swim your hardest and that’s it. I was trying to go for a better time, but there was not really anybody to push me.”

Brandi has been faster in the backstroke in previous years, but her second-place finish also earned her a Division 2 consideration time. She also finished third in the 100 breaststroke, in 1:16.28, and was part of Estancia’s 200 medley relay that finished a strong second. Julia Paluch, White, Meg Tuxford and Finley Garnett touched in 2:09.98.

Cunningham also picked up a couple of Division 2 consideration times for the Mustangs. He won the boys’ 500 freestyle in a personal-best 4:57.24. Earlier in the meet, he also finished third in the 200 free in another personal-best time of 1:48.89. He dropped more than three seconds from Monday’s league preliminaries.

“I’m super-happy with how I did,” Cunningham said. “I wanted to swim the [500] last year, and I didn’t get the opportunity to. I started this year, and I love it. I like swimming distance ... I felt like everybody swam hard today, everybody gave good effort. It was not so much an individual swim, which a lot of people think it is. It was team going on today.”

Cunningham also swam a 49.95 split in the meet-ending 400 free relay, in which he, Tony Shin, Nick Ly and Jacob Peterson finished third in 3:22.50, another CIF consideration time.

“I think [Cunningham’s] best 100 time before that was a 52,” Costa Mesa Coach Kyle Thorsness said. “He just ‘beasted up’ today.”

Costa Mesa’s boys also won the 200 free relay, as Jacob Peterson, Grant Christensen, Shin and Ly touched first in 1:33.45, yet another consideration time.

Swimmers with consideration times can check online Saturday afternoon after 3 p.m. to see if they in fact advanced to the Division 2 preliminaries, which are May 13 at Riverside City College.

“Hopefully those [relay] consideration times hold up and we can take that squad with us to CIF,” Thorsness said. “I think it would be a lot of fun.”

Among other boys’ highlights from league finals, Peterson finished second in the boys’ 50 free (23.30) and fourth in the 100 free (50.85). Estancia junior Jason Chesemore was second in the 100 free, in 50.32.

The Mustangs’ Ly was third in the 100 breast (1:06.24).

On the girls’ side, Laguna Beach won every event, but some locals had top-five finishes. Estancia’s Garnett was fifth in the 50 freestyle in 27.78, while Costa Mesa’s Cialee Enslow was fifth in the 200 IM in 2:43.68.

The Mustangs’ Kendra Ferguson split a quick 1:02.09 as anchor of the 400 free relay, in which she, Lauren Kiefer, Enslow and Sarah Catania touched third in 4:16.40.

Another Mesa swimmer of note was freshman Alyssa LeCours, who won the consolation title in the girls’ 100 breaststroke in 1:22.71.

“She’s going to have a great tenure here,” Thorsness said.