San Diego Section Swimming : Jorgensen Affirms Reputation in 500 Freestyle

When Daniel Pierce, a swimmer at Castle Park High School, heard that Mission Viejo swimmer Lars Jorgensen would be transferring to Mt. Carmel High last fall, he feared his new competition.

“I was scared,” Pierce, a junior, said. “I remember swimming against him when I was 14. When I heard he was coming down here, I said ‘Oh no.’ ”

Fears aside, Pierce narrowly defeated Jorgensen to win the 200-yard freestyle Saturday at the San Diego Section swimming championship at Mt. Carmel.

Pierce finished in 1 minute 41.25 seconds; Jorgensen’s time was 1:41.47.

Jorgensen came back to win the 500-yard freestyle in 4:31.26, breaking his section record of 4:35.77 set at the preliminaries Wednesday. Pierce was second at 4:32.50.

Five section records were set Saturday, including two each by Mt. Carmel’s Heather Merten (in the 50- and 100-yard freestyles) and Point Loma’s Marilyn Peck (in the 200- and 500-yard freestyles).

The Mt. Carmel had the top boys’ team with 179.5 points. Valhalla was second with 159. Poway was the top girls’ team, with 110 points to edge Mt. Carmel (108).

In the 500-yard freestyle, Jorgensen, a junior, finished more than a second ahead of Pierce and more than five seconds ahead of third-place Kevin Disbrow of Oceanside (4:36.88).

Even with his margin of victory, Jorgensen said he was disappointed with his finish. Pierce said he also thought Jorgensen would swim faster in the 500.

“I thought he was going faster,” Pierce said. “I really figured he would do under (4:30).”

Pierce, who won the 100-yard freestyle and finished second in the 200 freestyle last year, said this season would have been relatively easy, had it not been for Jorgensen’s transfer.

“Next year is going to be hard,” Pierce said. “I’m still scared about it. . . . It’s getting so quick, it’s insane.”

“It’s going to be really good next year,” said Jorgensen, who competed his freshman and sophomore years at Mission Viejo High. “It’s a little faster (in the Southern Section) than it is down here, but it is improving a lot more in San Diego than it is in the Southern Section.”

One of the few top swimmers who will be graduating is Peck, who finished at 1:50.60 in the 200-yard freestyle, breaking her section record of 1:52.88, set in 1985. In the 500 freestyle, Peck finished at 4:54.33, nearly 12 seconds ahead of second-place Alyssa Higdon of Coronado (5:06.22). Peck’s time breaks the section record of 4:55.96, set by La Jolla’s Kay Lundy in 1981.

The key to Peck’s impressive finish in the 500 was her time of 55.11 in the first 100 yards. She averaged 60 seconds per 100 yards for the remainder of the race.

“The first 100 yards when I swim anything feels easy,” said Peck, who will attend Northwestern next fall on a scholarship. “But after the first 100 yards, it begins to get pretty hard. I didn’t seem tired, but I couldn’t keep the pace up.

“I really wanted to break the 500 record because it wasn’t mine.”

Merten, a sophomore, won the 50-yard freestyle in 24.17, breaking her section record of 24.29 set at last year’s final. In the 100 freestyle, Merten’s time of 52.19 broke her 1986 section record of 52.84.

In the preliminaries, Merten was disappointed with her times of 24.30 and 52.88 in the two events.

“Those times weren’t that good for me,” she said. “But I knew I would go faster in the finals no matter what.”

Results BOYS: Overall--Mount Carmel 179.5, Valhalla 159, Vista 89; 200 medley relay--Bishop’s 1:42.37, Valhalla 1:43.34, Helix 1:45.25; 200 freestyle--Daniel Pierce (Castle Park) 1:41.25, Lars Jorgensen (Mt. Carmel) 1:41.47, Brent Blackman (Mt. Carmel) 1:43.86; 200 individual medley--Scot Frontis (Valhalla) 1:53.81, J.T. Guerin (Bonita Vista) 1:55.64, Thorsten Hegberg (El Camino) 1:56.28; 50 freestyle--Robert Krueger (El Capitan) 21.78, Tim Murphy (Mt. Carmel) 22.55, Aaron Schirmer (San Pasqual) 22.61; 100 butterfly--Scot Frontis (Valhalla) 51.40, Pat Krueger (El Capitan) 54.39, Andrew Belcher (Oceanside) 54.65; 100 freestyle--Robert Krueger (El Capitan) 46.96, Greg Latta (Patrick Henry) 48.22, James Fletcher (Valhalla) 48.51; 500 freestyle--Lars Jorgensen (Mt. Carmel) 4:31.26, Daniel Pierce (Castle Park) 4:32.50, Kevin Disbrow (Oceanside) 4:36.88; 100 backstroke--Thorsten Hegberg (El Camino) 55.07, J.T. Guerin (Bonita Vista) 55.85, Mike Allen (Valhalla) 57.94; 100 breaststroke--Kelly Parsons (Bishop’s) 59.50, Kyle Petrie (Cal Lutheran) 1:01.94, Aaron Armstrong (University of San Diego High School) 1:02.24; 400 freestyle relay--Valhalla 3:14.77, Mt. Carmel 3:14.81, Oceanside 3:20.85.

GIRLS: Overall--Poway 110, Mt. Carmel 108, Orange Glen 94; 200 medley relay--Mt. Carmel 1:56.59, Orange Glen 1:56.96, Poway 2:00.05; 200 freestyle--Marilyn Peck (Point Loma) 1:50.60, Tabitha Bonney (Chula Vista) 1:54.69, Alyssa Higdon (Coronado) 1:58.19; 200 individual medley--Alison Maxwell (University City) 2:08.68, Karla Kish (Mt. Carmel) 2:12.12, Joanna Zeiger (Patrick Henry) 2:12.54; 50 freestyle--Heather Merten (Mt. Carmel) 24.17, Crystal Hollins (Orange Glen) 24.76, Lori Sanchez (University City) 25.07; 100 butterfly--Carolyn Tart (Granite Hills) 59.19, Alison Maxwell (University City) 59.43, Hillary Quiseng (Poway) 1:00.03; 100 freestyle--Heather Merten (Mt. Carmel) 52.19, Crystal Hollins (Orange Glen) 53.71, Lori Sanchez (University City) 54.62; 500 freestyle--Marilyn Peck (Point Loma) 4:54.33, Alyssa Higdon (Coronado) 5:06.22, Lori Zeiger (Patrick Henry) 5:09.50; 100 backstroke--Karla Kish (Mt. Carmel) 1:00.75, Beth Engstrom (Poway) 1:02.25, Carol Eisele (USDHS) 1:03.16; 100 breaststroke--Sara Saltzstein (Valhalla) 1:08.51, Joanna Zeiger (Patrick Henry) 1:09.32, Natalie Trost (Mt. Carmel) 1:10.28; 400 freestyle relay--University City 3:45.49, Patrick Henry 3:45.64, USDHS 3:51.80.