Southern Section Swimming Championships : Mission Viejo Boys, as Usual, Favored to Win 4-A Title
Nothing much has changed as far as Southern Section 4-A boys’ swimming is concerned.
Mission Viejo High School suits up.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. May 16, 1988 Los Angeles Times Monday May 16, 1988 Orange County Edition Sports Part 3 Page 15 Column 1 Sports Desk 1 inches; 20 words Type of Material: Correction
For the record: Frank Wattles, a standout swimmer at Mission Viejo High School, was mistakenly called Dave Wattles in Thursday’s edition.
Mission Viejo competes.
Mission Viejo wins.
For 13 years, the Diablos have dominated the Southern Section meet; they have won every team championship since 1975. And more of the same appears to be in store this season.
Mission Viejo again is favored to win the team championship in the 4-A meet, which begins today with the preliminaries at Belmont Plaza pool in Long Beach at noon. The finals will be Friday in Long Beach at 7 p.m.
“Naturally, we’re going to do everything possible to prolong the streak, but everybody is going to be tough (competition),” Mission Viejo Coach Mike Pelton said. “It’s going to be a real dogfight.”
That’s not quite how Foothill Coach Tom DeLong sizes up the meet.
“‘Everyone else is competing for second place,” DeLong said. “It’s kind of hard to tell your kids that, but it’s the realistic approach.”
Mission Viejo qualified 14 swimmers and 2 relay teams for the meet, more than any other school.
Ernesto Arellano, Tsukasa Kawabuchi and Dave Wattles are Mission Viejo’s top swimmers. Arellano will swim in the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyles. Kawabuchi will compete in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly. Wattles will compete in the 100 backstroke.
Foothill has seven swimmers qualified, including Ron Scott, who will be one of the favorites in the 100 butterfly. Scott set a Century League and school record in the league meet with a time of 50.29.
“Ron is ahead of schedule,” DeLong said. “We didn’t think he would break the school record until the Southern Section meet. I think it is going to be a great race between him and Kawabuchi.”
Villa Park, Corona del Mar and Capistrano Valley are expected to compete with Foothill for second place.
Villa Park, the runner-up to Foothill in the Century league meet, features Greg Larson, who holds nearly every school record. He will compete in the 200 and 500 freestyles.
Corona del Mar has eight swimmers in the meet, including Jeff Thomason, the defending champion in the 50 and 100 freestyles.
The 3-A preliminaries will be today at Belmont Plaza at noon, with the finals Saturday at 7 p.m.
San Marino is favored to win, but it will be challenged by El Dorado.
El Dorado qualified nine individual swimmers and two relay teams. Mark Jordan will compete in the 100 butterfly and 500 freestyle, and freshman Kyle Utsumi will compete in the 200 and 500 freestyle.
South Pasadena and Loyola also are expected to compete for the team title.
The 2-A preliminaries will be Friday at Belmont Plaza at noon, with the finals Saturday at noon.
Woodbridge, Costa Mesa and Kennedy are the top Orange County teams entered.
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