High School Swimming Preview: Newport Harbor boys want to repeat as Sunset League champs

The Newport Harbor High boys’ swim team needed a recount to find out it had secured the Sunset League title over Los Alamitos last year by just two points.

The Sailors’ first league title in seven years did not come easy. The challenge this year will be defending it.

Newport Harbor and Los Alamitos again appear to be the favorites. While Sailors coach Ross Sinclair doesn’t have many top club swimmers besides seniors Nick Halphide and Ian Hanson, he does have talented water polo players like seniors Max Sandberg and Jason Grew, and junior Makana Sanita.

The Sailors opened league Tuesday with a win over Huntington Beach, but to Sinclair, the biggest meet of the regular season is still about a month away. The Sailors swim at rival Corona del Mar in the Battle of the Bay meet on April 26. Sophomore Reed Stemler is another key piece for Newport.

“I think a door is really opened up for our sophomores and juniors this season,” Halphide said. “Even though we don’t have as many club swimmers, we can still accomplish something. Our goal is still to go back to league finals this year and get another championship.”

Other Sunset League boys’ teams have different ambitions. Huntington Beach has two talented seniors in sprint freestyler Grant Brehm as well as Jake Cavano, a UCLA signee for water polo who swims the 50-yard free and 100 fly. The Oilers also have a big meet in April circled on the calendar, coach Ryan Camps said, against Edison on April 24 in the teams’ final league dual meet of the season.

“We have not beaten them in over a decade and it should be really close this year,” Camps said of the Chargers.

The Chargers are 1-1 in early league dual meet action and feature junior Taylor Whitmore as a top swimmer. Whitmore, the son of coach Matt Whitmore, is the defending league champion in the 200 individual medley and was second in league in the backstroke.

Ocean View, going for its third straight Golden West League title, has Dominic Falcon returning as a junior after a big sophomore season. Falcon was the CIF Southern Section Division 4 champion in the 200 freestyle and finished second in the 500 free.

First-year coach Pavle Filipovic said he expects Sage Hill to earn its fourth straight Academy League title. Sage Hill lost a top swimmer to graduation in Taras Polakoff, but versatile junior Jason Schreiber returns. Schreiber finished ninth in Division 2 in both the individual medley and breaststroke last season.

Laguna Beach appears ready to earn its 10th straight Orange Coast League title after beating Costa Mesa in a dual meet Wednesday. The Breakers are 2-0 in league and have a deep team, with water polo players Caden Capobianco, Colton Gregory and James Nolan as some of the top contributors for coach Kari Damato.

On the girls’ side, Fountain Valley comes off a breakthrough season that included the first Sunset League title since 1997 and a fifth-place finish at the Division 1 finals. The Barons aim for the top of league again but have work to do after losing at Los Alamitos in their first league dual meet Tuesday.

Senior Shayla Erickson, a University of Houston signee, and junior Hannah Farrow are top names for Fountain Valley. Both made two championship finals last year in Division 1, Erickson in the 200 and 500 free and Farrow in the butterfly and individual medley.

Newport Harbor and Marina may not have the overall team depth to hang with the Barons, but both have very talented individual swimmers in their own right. Junior Ayla Spitz is a star for the Sailors and leads a young squad that also includes her twin sister Zoe, Army-bound senior Dinny Stevens and sophomore Carly Yasko.

Ayla Spitz is the only returning local swimmer who won a Division 1 title last year. It came in the 100 freestyle, and she was also third in the backstroke.

Marina also features a sister combination, in senior Terra Matsushima and junior Sage Matsushima. Terra is bound for New York University; Sage finished second in Division 1 in the butterfly last season and was sixth in the backstroke.

Senior Katie Lightle is a leader for Edison, which edged Marina 88-81 in a dual meet Tuesday to improve to 1-1 in league.

CdM appears young, with two freshman club swimmers helping to lead the way. Both Karsyn Cook and Michelle Tekawy won two events in Wednesday’s win at University as the Sea Kings improved to 1-1 in Pacific Coast League action.

Huntington Beach coach Candice Mason said that freshman Madelyn Harris and senior Natalie Crocker are key swimmers for the Oilers. Harris broke the school record in the backstroke earlier this season against Cypress, touching in 57.02 seconds.

Columbia University-bound senior Kasey Karkoska leads the Laguna Beach girls, going for their 11th straight Orange Coast League title. She is the defending league champion in the individual medley and 100 freestyle. Karkoska swam different events at the Division 2 finals last year but still had success, placing seventh in butterfly and eighth in the backstroke.

Sage Hill’s Filipovic is excited by the young talent his team possesses on the girls’ side. Of his four top swimmers, he said three – Sydney Rosmann, Sophia Schreiber and Sarah Fischer – are freshmen. The other, Nicole Harvey, is a sophomore.

“I expect my girls’ team to compete hard with Crean Lutheran for the Academy League title,” Filipovic said.

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo