Reporting from Pasadena — A youth movement within the La Cañada High swimming program was evident Friday afternoon at the Rio Hondo League Swimming and Diving Championships at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center.
The Spartans squads had a phenomenal day, combining for 11 swimming titles. Of the seven individual championships won by La Cañada, six were captured by first- or second-year swimmers. The Spartans added two diving championships, as well.
“We have a lot of young swimmers this season and that’s a good thing,” Spartans girls’ Coach Ernie Lee said. “We have only four seniors, so that’s going to be great for us moving forward.
“Today, we wanted them to come in with a purpose and although we wanted them to have fun, we also wanted them to be focused. If they were nervous, we wanted them to take the nervousness and put it into being competitive.”
1/21
La Cañada’s Rowan Gordon swims the breaststroke leg of the 200 individual medley behind South Pasadena’s Kyra Angkasa and San Marino’s Claire Chiu before she passed them and never again trailed in the Rio Hondo League swim finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena on Friday, May 5, 2017. Gordon won the race. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
2/21
La Cañada freshman Halley Hemphill at the start of the 50 freestyle in the Rio Hondo League swim finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena on Friday, May 5, 2017. Hemphill improved her qualifying time by 1.4 seconds and won the race. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
3/21
La Cañada’s Danny Syrkin swims the 100 butterfly in the Rio Hondo League swim finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena on Friday, May 5, 2017. Syrkin swam the race with the best qualifying time, and swam well enough to beat the Rio Hondo League record, but came in second place by a small few hundreds of a second to South Pasadena’s Jacob Mullin. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
4/21
La Cañada’s Shannon Ring swims the 200 freestyle in the Rio Hondo League swim finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena on Friday, May 5, 2017. Ring came in second place. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
5/21
La Cañada’s Danny Syrkin at the start of the 200 freestyle in the Rio Hondo League swim finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena on Friday, May 5, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
6/21
La Cañada’s Danny Syrkin swims the 200 freestyle in the Rio Hondo League swim finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena on Friday, May 5, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
7/21
La Cañada’s Rowan Gordon swims the butterfly leg of the 200 individual medley in the Rio Hondo League swim finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena on Friday, May 5, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
8/21
La Cañada freshman Rowan Gordon waves to friends after her name is announced before swimming the 200 individual medley in the Rio Hondo League swim finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena on Friday, May 5, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
9/21
La Cañada’s Shannon Ring laughs to a teammate when she hears her name announced before the 200 freestyle in the Rio Hondo League swim finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena on Friday, May 5, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
10/21
La Cañada’s Thomas Hoffman swims the butterfly leg of the 200 medley relay in the Rio Hondo League swim finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena on Friday, May 5, 2017. La Cañada won the race. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
11/21
La Cañada’s Eddie Cosic swims the breaststroke leg of the 200 medley relay in the Rio Hondo League swim finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena on Friday, May 5, 2017. La Cañada won the race. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
12/21
La Cañada’s Katrine Madsen swims the butterfly leg of the 200 medley relay in the Rio Hondo League swim finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena on Friday, May 5, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
13/21
La Cañada’s Rowan Gordon swims the breaststroke leg of the 200 medley relay in the Rio Hondo League swim finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena on Friday, May 5, 2017. La Cañada came in second place. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
14/21
Taking a short moment to reflect, La Cañada’s Danny Syrkin after coming in second place in the 100 butterfly in the Rio Hondo League swim finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena on Friday, May 5, 2017. Syrkin swam the race with the best qualifying time, and swam well enough to beat the Rio Hondo League record, but came in second place by a small few hundreds of a second (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
15/21
La Cañada’s Danny Syrkin, right, shakes the hand of 100 butterfly winner Jacob Mullin in the Rio Hondo League swim finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena on Friday, May 5, 2017. Syrkin swam the race with the best qualifying time, and swam well enough to beat the Rio Hondo League record, but came in second place by a small few hundreds of a second. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
16/21
La Cañada’s Danny Syrkin at the start of the 100 butterfly in the Rio Hondo League swim finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena on Friday, May 5, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
17/21
La Cañada’s Katrine Madsen swims the 100 butterfly, finishing in second place, in the Rio Hondo League swim finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena on Friday, May 5, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
18/21
La Cañada’s Luke Stefan after winning the 50 freestyle in the Rio Hondo League swim finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena on Friday, May 5, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
19/21
La Cañada’s Thomas Hoffman does the backstroke leg of the 200 individual medley in the Rio Hondo League swim finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena on Friday, May 5, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
20/21
La Cañada’s Rowan Gordon leaves the pool after winning the 200 individual medley in the Rio Hondo League swim finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena on Friday, May 5, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
21/21
La Cañada’s Rowan Gordon swims the backstroke leg of the 200 individual medley in the Rio Hondo League swim finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena on Friday, May 5, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
La Cañada began the meet by setting the tone and winning the first boys’ race. Freshman Danny Syrkin, sophomores Eddie Cosic and Thomas Hoffman and senior Luke Stefan teamed up to finish first in the 200-yard medley relay in 1 minute, 35.27 seconds. The CIF Southern Section Division II automatic qualifying mark set a new meet record, besting a 2013 standard by the Spartans.
Syrkin also won the 200 freestyle (1:42.87) and was involved in the most competitive event of the day. In the 100 butterfly, Syrkin placed second (49.38) behind Jacob Mullen of South Pasadena (48.79), who set a new meet record. In the race, the top four finishers, including Hoffman (fourth, 52.41), made the automatic qualifying standard and all eight swimmers met the CIF consideration standard.
“In a meet like this, I try and not get too caught up in all the hype of it,” Syrkin said. “For me, I like to try and keep it a little more mellow and I don’t do anything extravagant behind the blocks before the race, just some deep breaths.”
The Spartans also received a win in the 500 freestyle from sophomore Juan Grases in 4:50.66.
Although he’s not a freshman or sophomore, Stefan is a first-year swimmer for La Cañada. A talented water polo player who helped the Spartans get to the CIF quarterfinals in 2016, he decided to come out for the swim team as a senior. Stefan earned the title of the league’s fastest athlete, winning the 50 freestyle (21.98).
“I’ve been playing water polo for six or seven years and didn’t come out for swimming until this year,” he said. “Since I’ve been playing water polo for so long, I thought I would come out here and really be slow, but the coaches have really fixed up my stroke and helped me with my diving.”
Stefan teamed up with Hoffman, Syrkin and senior Wyatt Lowe to take the 200 freestyle relay (1:27.99) and Lowe, Grases, Stefan and freshman Joshua Kim won the 400 freestyle relay (3:20.75).
Hoffman placed second in the 200 individual medley (1:58.43) and Cosic was third in thee 100 breaststroke (1:00.22), both in CIF consideration times.
For the Spartans girls, four individuals captured titles: freshman Rowan Gordon in the 200 individual medley (2:23.08), sophomore Shannon Ring in the 500 freestyle (5:29.7), freshman Halley Hemphill in the 50 freestyle (25.61) and senior Katrine Madsen in the 100 butterfly (1:00.47).
“It’s all about the hype for me in this meet,” Ring said. “I think this is probably the best meet you can ever go to, because it’s so much fun and there’s so much school spirit and that’s what it’s all about.”
Hemphill teamed up with junior Megan Peters, junior Faith Florez and sophomore Genevieve Fraipont to win the 400 freestyle relay (3:55.88).
In CIF consideration marks, Madsen was second in the 100 butterfly (1:00.47), Hemphill was second in the 100 freestyle (55.98), Odell was third in the 100 backstroke (1:00.98), the 200 freestyle relay squad of Hemphill, Madsen, Odell and Ring placed second (1:42.37) and the 200 medley relay team of Odell, Gordon, Madsen and Ring was second (1:53.59). Ring was also second in the 200 freestyle (2:04.18).
In the diving competition that featured just three athletes, all from La Cañada, Tatsuya Machida was first on the boys’ side with a score of 436.25. Kara Bradley was first on the girls side with 423.75, while Sydney Okland was second with 402.85.
The Division II prelims will take place Friday at the Riverside Swim Complex.
jeffrey.tully@latimes.com
Twitter: @jefftsports
