Swimming: Oaks Christian’s boys set Div. III meet records in two relays
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When it comes to team efforts, few can keep up with the Westlake Village Oaks Christian boys’ swim team. The Lions set meet records in the 200-yard medley and 200 freestyle relays at the Southern Section-Toyota Division IV finals Saturday afternoon at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach, giving the program all three meet relay records in only its second year in the division.
Oaks Christian broke the 400 free relay mark last season en route to setting a meet record with 419 points.
The Lions came close to matching that mark on Saturday, winning six of eight individual events and all three relays to help bolster their winning point total to 377. Cerritos finished a distant second with 169 points.
Nolan Koon was the top performer overall for Oaks Christian, setting the only individual meet record of the day in the 200 individual medley. Koon finished in 1 minute 50.06 seconds, surpassing the mark of 1:51.16 set by Suichi Matsumoto of Laguna Hills in 1992.
Koon, a senior, also swam a leg on both record-setting relays and won the 100 breaststroke in 56.25. He teamed with junior Collin Bratte, sophomore Chase Bloch and senior Michael Craft to win the medley relay in 1:33.78, surpassing the previous record of 1:35.25 set by Walnut in 1992.
After setting his record in the individual medley, he swam the opening leg of the 200 free relay, then watched Craft, Bloch and senior Kevin Nielsen finish up in 1:24.73. The previous record of 1:26.76 was set by Whittier La Serna in 1993.
Nielsen, Craft and Koon were also on last season’s record-breaking 400 free relay team. & Nielsen also won the 200 free (1:40.82) and 100 butterfly (49.53), and Bloch won the 500 free in 4:36.91.
In the girls’ competition, El Segundo scored 222 points to edge out Cerritos (202) for the team title. El Segundo’s lone victory came in the 200 free relay (1:41.70), but the Eagles finished in the top three in three other events.
--Dan Arritt