Merrell leaves CdM, enrolls at Crean Lutheran

Eva Merrell, who starred in swimming at Corona del Mar High as a freshman before not participating in high school swimming as a sophomore, has enrolled at Crean Lutheran High.

Merrell is coming off a strong summer, in which she swam in five events at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials in Omaha, Neb. She was ninth in the 200-meter backstroke.

Recently, Merrell also was named to the USA Swimming National Team, which changed her plans of returning to CdM for her junior year.

“I realized how much more I would be traveling and that I would miss a lot of school,” Merrell said Tuesday in a Twitter direct message. “At Crean, my schedule is set up so that I still complete all my classes but I won’t miss as much in-class instruction. Its hard to leave CdM where my friends are, but I think academically I will get the support I need to succeed with my schedule.”

Competing for CdM as a freshman, Merrell won the 100-yard backstroke at the CIF Southern Section Division 1 finals in 2015, and she was second in the 100 butterfly. She helped the Sea Kings finish fourth in CIF as a team, before taking online school as a sophomore to prepare for the Olympic Trials.

Merrell holds CdM girls’ swimming school records in the backstroke and butterfly, as well as the 100 freestyle.

Crean Lutheran girls’ swimming has won four straight CIF Southern Section swimming titles, the last two coming in Division 2, and also won its first CIF State Championship last spring.