Newport Harbor swimming sweeps Edison to stay undefeated in Sunset League

Brian Melstrom announced last month that this season will be his last as girls’ aquatics coach at Newport Harbor High.

Before he walks away from the pool deck, Melstrom got one more chance to coach against his alma mater of Edison in a Sunset League swimming meet Tuesday.

Melstrom, who graduated from Edison in 1991, was not only going against his former team. He was coaching against his former coach, Matt Whitmore. After the meet ended, Whitmore pulled a team picture out of his backpack of the 1990 Sunset League champion Chargers.

“It’s pretty cool to coach against your former coach,” Melstrom said. “That brings an added dimension to it.”

The Sailors may or may not win league this year, but the girls were plenty good enough Tuesday to beat Edison for the first time in Melstrom’s 10-year tenure. Newport Harbor defeated Edison 110-60, improving to 3-0 in league.

The Newport Harbor boys also improved to 3-0 in league, winning by a 108-62 score.

Newport Harbor’s girls won every event, including all three relays. Double individual winners included senior Dinny Stevens, who won the 200-yard individual medley in 2 minutes 15.66 seconds, then came back to win the 500 freestyle in 5:20.15.

Melstrom let the Sailors swim in off events against Edison (1-2 in league). Stevens said it was the first time she had swam the 200 IM in high school since her freshman year. It didn’t matter with the depth the Sailors have this year.

Ayla Spitz won the 50 free (24.17) and the 100 back (55.76) for Newport Harbor, while Zoe Spitz, her twin sister, won the 100 butterfly (57.95) and the 100 freestyle (53.05).

Carly Yasko won the 200 free in 1:55.95 for the Sailors, while Kili Skibby won the 100 breaststroke in 1:10.96. But the performance of younger swimmers also was key. Freshman Annie Somers was second in the 50 free, in 26.08, and fourth in the breaststroke.

In their last two meets, the Sailors have beaten defending league champion Fountain Valley, then topped Edison for the first time since rejoining the Sunset League in 2006.

“People have such a fire in them, and it’s fun to win,” Stevens said. “I just absolutely love this team. It’s been a great start to my senior season … We beat the defending league champs, we’re beating Edison. It’s really great, and it’s giving the girls and me a lot more fire.”

Senior Katie Lightle led the Edison girls. She finished second in the 200 free and third in the backstroke.

Nick Halphide won the 200 free (1:45.33) and butterfly (53.17) for the Newport Harbor boys. Max Sandberg won the 50 free in 22.00, and Jason Grew won the 100 free (49.55). Ian Hanson won the 500 free, touching in 4:57.21.

The defending league champion Newport Harbor boys swept the top three spots in the 50 freestyle, butterfly, 100 free and 500 free, then clinched the meet after taking the top two spots in the 200 free relay.

“We’re starting to compete, getting that fire that we had last year,” said Newport Harbor boys’ coach Ross Sinclair, whose team travels to Marina on Wednesday for a league meet. “We’ve been lagging a little bit, but we showed it today.”

Junior Marcus Dalija won the 200 IM in 2:03.95 and the breaststroke in 1:00.34 for Edison (1-2 in league). Both were season-best times, Matt Whitmore said, as was his son Taylor Whitmore’s 54.15 to win the backstroke.

“We’re looking pretty good,” said Matt Whitmore, whose Chargers compete in the Mt. San Antonio College meet on Friday and Saturday. “We just had our spring break, and had really hard practices over spring break. That we’re swimming well is a really nice bonus, because we’re tired.”

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo