Swim: CdM boys win league opener
IRVINE — Corona del Mar High swimming senior Ethan Archer was not in one of his usual events for the Sea Kings’ Pacific Coast League opener at Irvine on Wednesday.
Archer usually swims in the 100-yard butterfly and backstroke. This time, he didn’t swim in the latter event, competing in the 200 individual medley instead.
Archer is in the final year of his CdM career, and he watched someone whose high school career is just beginning take down the backstroke. CdM freshman Tanner Pulice won the event in a swift 55.95 seconds.
“He’s swimming crazy fast as a freshman,” said Archer, who hopes the whole team can say that by the time league finals roll around.
The Sea Kings boys opened league with a victory, pulling away late to secure a 94-76 victory at Woollett Aquatics Center. Irvine was too strong for the CdM girls, who lost, 116-53.
CdM’s boys hope to capture their first league title in years. University had won it four straight times until last season, when Northwood earned the crown. Archer, who won the 200 IM (1:57.74) and butterfly (53.73) on Wednesday, is a key piece for CdM as a dedicated club swimmer.
“It’s going to be tough, but I think we’re in a really good position,” said Archer, who is bound for UC Santa Barbara. “We lost a lot of people last year, but a lot of people are stepping up and filling those gaps. It doesn’t hurt to be the underdogs. It takes a little bit of pressure off. But I don’t think we see ourselves as the underdogs. We do our best, and that’s all that we’re here to do.”
CdM was without its head coach on Wednesday, as Doug Volding was out sick. A pair of CdM alumni led their respective genders, with CdM assistant Lucas Reynolds coaching the boys and assistant Stephanie Gabert guiding the girls.
Reynolds saw the CdM boys complete plenty of fast swims. The other individual event winner was junior Ryan Schildwachter, who won the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.78, and the Sea Kings also showed their depth. Junior Henry Wilde was second in both the 200 freestyle (1:51.27) and backstroke (58.66).
Pulice was second in the 200 IM in 1:59.82 and Mitchell Cooper, another junior water polo player, was second in the 100 free (50.47) and third in the 200 free (1:53.46).
“We kind of felt like we were going to do well in this meet,” Reynolds said. “The boys were excited to get out there and get their first times.”
CdM’s boys also won two of three relays, as Wilde, Schildwachter, Pulice and Archer touched first in the 200 medley relay (1:40.76). Pulice, Wilde, Davis Wong and Archer also won the meet-ending 400 free relay, in 3:21.00.
On the girls’ side, a lack of depth hurt CdM against Irvine. The Sea Kings do have two top club swimmers, senior Nicole Lin and freshman Leora Rose, to lead the team.
Lin, bound for the University of Chicago, was out-touched by Irvine’s Camille Ross in the 50 free, as her time of 24.47 was second by four-hundredths of a second. But Lin rebounded to win the 100 breaststroke in 1:08.54, outlasting Irvine’s Kate Lee (1:08.72).
It was the only event win of the day for the CdM girls. Lin said she was fine with her times, especially since she recently went to Texas to compete in the American Short Course Championships. The next week, she was in New York for a school Model United Nations event.
“I’ve only been in practice for like four days since then, so I’m OK with those times,” Lin said. “It was a good starting point, to just see where I was and what I need to work at ... [the team is] kind of the same as it was last year. Now we have Leora, another club swimmer, so it’s nice to get that little extra push. But it’s kind of the same. The water polo players are stepping up and not wanting to let me down, and me not wanting to let them down.”
Rose said she was coming off a taper for the Southern California Swimming 14-and-under Junior Olympics, which were held last weekend in Pasadena. Rose, who swims club for Golden West, was second in the 200 IM in 2:18.18, and fourth in the backstroke in 1:06.19.
Other second-place finishers on the girls’ side included Chloe Harbilas in the 200 free (2:02.01), Hana Cloherty in the butterfly (1:03.57) and Emily Ritner in the 500 free (5:28.69).
CdM returns to Pacific Coast League action with a home meet against Woodbridge on Wednesday.
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