Orange County Girls’ Swimming Relays : Capistrano Valley Holds Off Los Alamitos for Team Title

Capistrano Valley High School won two events, placed second in another, and finished third in two additional races Saturday, but it was its fourth-place finish in the final event that secured the title in the Southern Section Girls Swim Relays at Belmont Plaza pool in Long Beach.

The Cougars--led by senior Amy Shaw and freshman Lisa Jacob--held off contenders El Toro and Los Alamitos to recapture the title they last won in 1987. The Cougars finished with 208 points to Los Alamitos’ 200.

In the final event, the 4 x 50 medley, Capistrano Valley sealed the overall victory over Los Alamitos. Had the Griffins won the last relay, they would have won the meet.

Capistrano Valley, which held a six-point lead over Los Alamitos going into the last relay, performed well under pressure.

“I was confident going in that the girls could do this,” said Cougar Coach Jim Lyle. “This is a wonderful start for a season. It’s nice to get back on the championship stand after a couple of years out.”

El Toro, which finished second to Marina in last year’s relays, moved ahead of Mission Viejo by finishing second in the final event and placed third overall with 190 points. Mission Viejo was fourth with 180 points.

“It doesn’t have a great deal of bearing on league, because it’s a sprint (meet),” said El Toro coach Sheri Ross. “It’s just a grit-it-out meet.”

The only meet record set was by Los Alamitos in the 4 x 100 freestyle, which it won in a time of 3:36.42, eclipsing the mark of 3:36.65 set in 1986 by Mission Viejo.