San Diego Section Swimming : Hilltop Kicks Favorites in Preliminaries

After Poway High School’s girl’s swimming team won the Palomar League meet last week, Poway Coach Will Scandalis said the Titans could “kick” their opponents whenever they had to.

Mount Carmel, which has won the San Diego Section CIF girls swimming and diving title two years in a row, took offense to Scandalis’ comment. In fact, several Sundevils swimmers showed up at Thursday’s preliminaries at Mount Carmel with plastic, stick-on feet on the backs of their swimsuits.

“We wanted to go out and win,” Mount Carmel’s Sheryl Watier said. “We wanted to win even more after he said that. It was mean that he said that.”

Scandalis pointed out he wasn’t trying to slight the Sundevils. In fact, the Poway coach respects Mount Carmel.

“They’re great. We want to be great,” Scandalis said. “It’s like Avis and Hertz. Mount Carmel is No. 1, we’re No. 2 and trying harder.”

But the school trying even harder is Hilltop. The Lancers won four of the 10 events Thursday.

Hilltop’s Tami Bruce, one of the county’s top swimmers, won the 200 individual medley in 2:08.52, more than one minute better than her qualifying time. Bruce was also first in the 100 backstroke. The Lancers won the 400 freestyle relay as well, beating Poway by more than two seconds and Kristin Bjornstand, seeded fifth in the 500 freestyle, won with a time of 5:08.54, more than six minutes better than her qualifying.

Meanwhile, Scandalis is optimistic about the Titans’ chances of upending the Sundevils in Saturday’s swim finals at Mount Carmel. (The diving portion is 3 p.m. today at UC San Diego.) Poway beat Mount Carmel three times this year --in a dual meet, at the Mission Viejo Invitational and in the Palomar meet.

But in Thursday’s preliminaries, the Sundevils won two events, while the Titans came away with one. Poway’s Deborah Daniels captured the 50-yard freestyle. Daniels, the second seed, won with a time of 25.68 seconds. She also finished second in the 100 freestyle. Laura Innis of Poway also placed in the event, finishing sixth.

Poway’s Hilary Quiseng, the top seed in the 100 butterfly, beat her qualifying time by .74 seconds, but she still finished second to Coronado’s Hilary Higdon, who was timed in 58.67.

“I wasn’t disappointed,” said Quiseng, “because Hilary is fast. That was my best time ever. I plan on doing better in the finals.”

Watier won the 100 breaststroke in 1:09.68, and teammates Michelle Briggs and Natalie Trost earned spots in the final by finishing fourth and sixth, respectively. Watier also took second in the 200 individual medley. Another Sundevil, Karla Kish, was third.