Daily Pilot High School Female Athlete of the Week: Ayla Spitz helps Newport Harbor make waves in Sunset League

Ayla Spitz didn’t really blink when Newport Harbor High girls’ swimming coach Brian Melstrom put her in the 100-yard breaststroke for a Sunset League showdown against Fountain Valley last month.

Spitz, a junior, doesn’t usually swim that event in high school dual meets. But to Melstrom, putting her there against the defending league champion Barons gave the Sailors the best chance at success.

That was all that Spitz needed to hear.

“I’m not going to argue with what he puts me in,” she said. “I thought it was a cool idea, just because it was a little bit different than normal. I definitely wasn’t opposed to it.”

Keep in mind that Melstrom could put Spitz in any event and she has a great chance for success. In the home meet against Fountain Valley on March 27, she won the 200 freestyle and the breaststroke, and was on the winning 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays, as the Sailors upset the Barons 87-83.

Melstrom said team the point total was just one off from his projection of 88-82. Everybody stepped up, he said. The club swimmers like Ayla Spitz and her twin sister, Zoe, as well as Army-bound senior Dinny Stevens, sophomore Carly Yasko and freshman Annie Somers, did well. But so did water polo players like senior Jessica Lynch and juniors Kili Skibby, Annie Rankin and Linnea Kelly.

The victory improved Newport Harbor to 2-0 in league.

“That was a huge win for us,” said Melstrom, who has announced he is retiring following this season, his 10th coaching the Sailors girls’ swimming team. “I don’t think that Fountain Valley was thinking we had a chance to beat them. It was a really cool meet ... Everybody did what they had to do.”

In the middle of it all was Spitz. Her 200 free time of 1 minute 49.63 seconds was just a fraction of a second off Carly Geehr’s school-record time of 1:49.42, set in 2001.

Ayla Spitz, shown competing on March 10, is open to swimming whatever event her Newport Harbor High swimming team needs her in.

(Kevin Chang / Staff Photographer )

Spitz is already plenty familiar with the Sailors’ record board. She holds the school record in half of the eight individual events: the 50 freestyle, 100 free, backstroke and breaststroke. Ayla and Zoe Spitz, along with Stevens and Skibby, hold the school 200 medley relay record. The Spitz sisters, Stevens and Yasko also have both of the freestyle relay records.

Ayla Spitz, the defending league champion in the backstroke and 100 freestyle, is also the defending CIF Southern Section Division 1 champion in the latter event. Her skills are such that her Irvine Novaquatics club coach, Adam Crossen, called her the most versatile girls’ swimmer he’s coached in 15 years with the program.

“She’s willing to do whatever to help the team win,” Crossen said. “She’s the stabilizing rock. She’s becoming more vocal, but I think the main thing is that she leads by example. She’s the total package.”

Spitz realizes that high school swimming isn’t always about achieving a time. Sometimes, it’s about helping the team win. When asked about any individual goals she has this season, she chose to the turn the attention to her teammates.

“The most important part of high school swimming is just to have fun and bring up the rest of the team,” she said. “It’s really important for some of the girls who don’t have as much experience to sort of rise to the occasion, cheer for their teammates. I think along with Zoe and Dinny and Carly, being role models for the rest of the team is important.”

The other club swimmers also helped the Sailors achieve success in the meet against Fountain Valley. Yasko was a double winner, claiming the 100 free and the backstroke. Zoe Spitz finished second in the 200 individual medley and the butterfly, while Stevens was second in the 500 free and third in the 200 free.

Combinations of the four standouts, plus Skibby, Kelly and Somers, also helped the Sailors win all three relays.

It’s the depth, though, that has the Sailors thinking about a possible league title. The team has consecutive league dual meets against Edison at home on Tuesday, then at Marina on Wednesday. Win both, and the Sailors would be 4-0 in league headed into the final dual meet against Los Alamitos on April 24. The Griffins established themselves as the league favorite earlier this season after beating Fountain Valley 105-65.

The league finals are May 4 at Golden West College.

“I think we have a good shot,” Ayla Spitz said. “Los Al is definitely super strong this year. I think our dual meet with them will be a good indicator of what will happen at league finals, but we definitely have a shot. We can do really well this year. As exhibited by our Fountain Valley meet, we have three strong relays that can place and possibly win at league [finals], so I think we have a shot.”

Spitz will continue to swim whatever event Melstrom needs her in. And there will continue to be swims that impress the veteran coach. In the Sailors’ road win over Huntington Beach in the league opener, Melstrom said Spitz swam a 4:52 in the 500 free with no real competition to push her.

For context, that time would have placed her in the top five at the Division 1 finals last year.

“It’s like, what do you want to put her in?” Melstrom said. “And she’s an awesome girl. Both of those girls, Ayla and Zoe, are very humble. They’re extremely hard-working in the classroom and in the pool.”

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Ayla Spitz

Born: Jan. 8, 2001

Hometown: Newton, Mass.

Height: 5 feet 7

Sport: Swimming

Year: Junior

Coach: Brian Melstrom

Favorite food: Sushi

Favorite movie: “The Incredibles”

Favorite athletic moment: Helping the Newport Harbor girls’ swimming team upset Fountain Valley this season.

Week in review: Spitz won the 200-yard freestyle and 100 breaststroke, as well as swimming on the winning 200 medley and 200 freestyle relay teams, as the Sailors beat defending league champion Fountain Valley 87-83 in a Sunset League meet March 27.

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo