Southern Section Swimming : County Enjoys Sweeping Weekend : El Dorado, Sunny Hills, Brea-Olinda Win Team Titles

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

Friday, the Mission Viejo High School boys’ and girls’ teams swept to the 4-A titles.

Saturday, two more Orange County teams won the 3-A divisions and another took the girls’ 2-A title, giving Orange County five out of a possible six section titles.

Only the San Luis Obispo boys’ team was able to break that stranglehold, winning the 2-A title over second place Miraleste, 101-97.5.

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

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

Sonora’s Darren Ward won two individual events, breaking his own 3-A meet record in each event.

Ward won the 200-yard individual medley in 1:50.13, bettering his old mark of 1:51.21, set last year. He also won the 100-yard freestyle in 45.47, bettering his record of 45.75, set last year as well.

In the girls’ 3-A division, Sunny Hills beat second place Rolling Hills, 159-116.

The Lancers took a commanding lead after the 100-yard freestyle, which saw Kim Rosso (51.75) and Annette Spicer (52.83) finish 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’ swimming team had only one individual winner in the 2-A championships, but the team did well enough to win the title.

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

Weber took second later in the meet in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:08.74. Agoura’s Julie Parker won the event in 5:05.69.

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

Niblick finished with a time of 24.67 and Van Lobensels a fraction later in 24.68, all under electronic-touch timing.

After that event, Brea led Charter Oak, 55-45, with Paso Robles in third with 40 points.

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

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