Southern Section Swimming : Orange County Schools Splash to a Near-Sweep

Orange County high schools missed a sweep by only one division in the weekend’s Southern Section swimming championships at East Los Angeles College.

Friday night, it was the Mission Viejo High School boys’ and girls’ teams that swept to their respective 4-A titles.

Saturday night, Orange County teams won the 3-A divisions and the girls’ 2-A title, giving the area five of six possible section titles.

Only the San Luis Obispo boys’ team was able to break that stranglehold, winning the 2-A title over second-place Miraleste, 101-97 1/2.

San Luis Obispo actually finished fourth in the swimming events with 82 points, but an extra 19 points from the 2-A diving competition, held last week, gave it the overall title.

In the boys’ 3-A division, Placentia El Dorado beat out San Marino, 147-116, for first place. La Habra Sonora finished third with 105 points.

Sonora’s Darren Ward won two individual events, breaking the 3-A meet records he set in each one last year.

Ward won the 200-yard individual medley in 1 minute 50.13 seconds, bettering his mark of 1:51.21, and also took the 100-yard freestyle in 45.47, beating his 1985 time of 45.75.

In the girls’ 3-A division, Fullerton Sunny Hills blitzed the rest of the field, outdistancing second-place Rolling Hills, 159-116.

The Lancers took a commanding lead after the 100-yard freestyle, in which Kim Rosso (51.75) and Annette Spicer (52.83) finished first and second. That, along with Christine Spicer’s fifth-place finish, gave the Lancers 39 points in the freestyle alone.

The Brea-Olinda girls’ team had only one individual winner in the 2-A championships but still did well enough as a team to win the title.

The Wildcats outdistanced second place Covina Charter Oak, 111-89, to take team honors. Brea’s Denise Weber was the Wildcats’ individual champion, winning the 200-yard freestyle in 1:56.33, ahead of Banning’s Marnie Miller (1:58.08).

Weber returned to take a second place in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:08.74. Agoura’s Julie Parker won in 5:05.69.

Brea fought for the lead with Paso Robles and Charter Oak over the first three events before the 50-yard freestyle, in which the Wildcats’ Jennifer Niblick edged Charter Oak’s Lisa Van Lobensels for second place by a hundredth of a second in 24.67.

After that event, Brea led Charter Oak, 55-45, with Paso Robles in third with 40 points, and the Wildcats were never headed.

Brea picked up other points in the 100-yard backstroke, where Niblick finished fourth in 1:02.20, and in the 100-yard breaststroke, where Monica Fay took seventh in 1:13.94.

The Wildcat relay teams also performed well, with the 200-yard medley team finishing second in 1:59.65 and the 400-yard freestyle team taking fourth in 3:46.12.