Swimming: Baron girls impress
A hard sneeze was what derailed Fountain Valley High swimmer Carly Perri in her junior year.
It sounds funny, less so when one understands that Perri ended up with a fractured rib.
“I sneezed, and then I swam on it for like two months,” Perri said. “It was bad. I hurt it more and more.”
Perri is back swimming for the Barons as a senior. Things have ended up all right with her, as she is now committed to Duke.
First, she is a senior leader for what the Barons hope will be a special season. They have not won a Sunset League title since 1997, but this year, they’re in the conversation. They certainly got their Sunset League meet schedule off to a good start on Tuesday at home.
The Fountain Valley girls routed defending league champion and rival Edison, 104-66. On the boys’ side, the Chargers edged an 86-84 victory.
Perri won the 100-yard backstroke for the Fountain Valley girls, in 59.89 seconds. She also placed second in the 100 freestyle, in 54.24.
“It felt fun to be back in the whole spirit of things, but it was definitely hard,” she said. “After a whole year of not swimming, it’s just your body’s not used to competing. It’s hard to get back into it, but I really loved it. And you have your team, and that’s the most important part. The team just feels so good to be around.”
Junior Shayla Erickson won the 200 free (1:52.86) and the 500 free (5:01.91) for the Fountain Valley girls. Like Erickson, sophomore Hannah Farrow also earned a pair of CIF Southern Section Division 1 automatic cuts in winning the 200 IM (2:07.07) and the 100 fly (57.30).
In the individual medley, Farrow closed with a strong freestyle leg to top the defending Division 1 champion in the event, Edison senior Nora Deleske, an Arizona State commit who was second in 2:08.24.
“I could see everyone cheering, and it gave me a lot of adrenaline going into the races,” Farrow said. “I was pretty hyped for the meet.”
Fountain Valley (1-0 in league), led by first-year Coach Kyle Naumann, also won all three relays on the girls’ side. Farrow, junior Abbie Nelson, Erickson and Perri won the 200 medley relay in 1:49.72, another auto cut. And seniors Samantha Soriano and Kennedy Hood, along with Nelson and senior Monet Favreau, won the 200 free relay in 1:41.87.
Soriano, freshman Katelyn Dang, Farrow and Perri touched in 3:38.74 to win the 400 free relay.
Winners for the Edison girls (0-2 in league) included senior Meghan Kluck in the 50 free (25.23), senior Samantha Le in the 100 free (53.95) and Deleske in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.22).
Edison’s boys and girls are coached by Matt Whitmore, the longtime former coach for more than two decades. He planned to return this year in an assistant role, but that changed to a head coaching role after the resignation of Diggy Riley.
Whitmore saw his Chargers boys (1-1 in league) tied with Fountain Valley (0-1), 70-70, with two events remaining. But Edison went one-two-four in the 100 breaststroke to seize control heading into the last relay.
Edison sophomore Marcus Dalija won the breaststroke in 1:02.04, and he also won the individual medley in 2:02.87. Senior Jonathan Bramm was another double-event winner for the visitors, capturing the 200 free (1:50.47) and 500 free (4:55.54).
Other Edison event winners included Dylan Nelson in the butterfly (55.98) and Whitmore’s son, Taylor, in the backstroke (56.54). The elder Whitmore said he anticipates the Edison boys having a strong season. They were shorthanded three varsity swimmers for last week’s loss to Los Alamitos.
“They had a midterm in an after-school class last Thursday,” Whitmore said. “It would have been a lot closer meet.”
The Barons boys, meanwhile, lost the meet despite winning all three relays. Senior Justin Nguyen led the 200 medley relay and 400 free relay quartets to comeback wins with a swift anchor leg in each race.
Nguyen was also the only individual event winner for the Fountain Valley boys, easily taking the 50 free (21.77) and the 100 free (48.22).
“He’s pretty quick,” Naumann said. “We enjoy having him on our team. He’s a funny character, but he shows up.”
Both teams resume Sunset League competition next Tuesday, with Edison hosting Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley swimming at Marina.
In this league, particularly on the girls’ side, a league title will be nothing to sneeze at.
Twitter: @mjszabo
