THE PREPS : Foothill Swimming Invitational : He Hopes History Won’t Repeat Itself : Scott Wants to Set . . . and Keep School Record at This Year’s Meet

For about minute last spring Ron Scott thought he was a part of something special. Then it was taken away.

During prelims of the Southern Section 4-A swim meet, Scott and three teammates broke the Foothill High School record in the 200-meter medley relay. However, the Knights’ jubilation was cut short because they were disqualified by meet officials.

“They waited until we’d celebrated for about a minute, then they told us,” Scott said. “They said that two of our swimmers jumped early. We had set the school record and had the fastest time of the day and they take it away. It was a big disappointment.”

However, Scott refuses to dwell on it. Instead, he is looking forward to Saturday’s Foothill Invitational and possibly another shot at the school record.

The meet will feature 13 teams, almost all from Orange County. Capistrano Valley and Foothill should be the top contenders in the boys’ competition, while Capistrano Valley, Foothill, Fountain Valley, Marina and San Marino are the top girls’ teams.

The boys’ prelims will be today at Foothill, beginning at 3 p.m. The girls prelims will be Saturday morning and the boys’ and girls’ finals Saturday, beginning at noon.

“I think we have a good chance at winning the combined title,” said Scott, a senior. “We both have strong boys’ and girls’ teams. And we also have a shot at the medley record.”

Last year at the Foothill meet, Scott won the 100 butterfly with a time of 51.75 seconds, breaking Ken Wills’ school record of 51.90 set in 1974.

He later broke his own record, finishing first at the Southern Section 4-A meet with a time of 49.81.

Now Scott wants the medley record.

In 1974, the Knights’ medley relay team swam a 1:37.6.

“Bruce Furness and Rod Strachan were on that team and they both made it to the Olympics,” Scott said. “So it would be a great thing to break their record.”

Only Scott (butterfly) and Brian Costanza (freestyle) remain from last year’s medley relay team, which swam a 1:36.0.

Brian Bainbridge (breaststroke) and Rob Reynolds (backstroke) graduated. Bainbridge has been replaced by Brett Cowdell and Reynolds by Andrew MacLaughlan.

The new unit already has set one record this season, breaking the CIF relays’ mark a month ago. However, it was 2.7 seconds off the school record.

“That meet was held so early in the season that it was difficult to break the school record,” Scott said. “We weren’t ready. But our time was really good. It encouraged us. We know we can break the school record.”

In the girls’ competition, Foothill Coach Tom DeLong expects the 500 freestyle to be the toughest and most exciting race of the day.

Janet Evans (El Dorado) is the far and away the favorite. She won the event last year, with considerable ease. However, the field also will also include Shannon Marcoux (Foothill) and Amy Shaw (Capistrano Valley), both Southern Section finalists last year.

“It should be a fierce race,” DeLong said. “The field is as strong as you’ll have in the Southern Section final.”

Mission Viejo will be the favorite in boys’ and girls’ competitions at the 18th annual Mission Viejo swim meet, Saturday morning at the Marguerite Recreation Center.

Mission Viejo is the favorite in both the boys’ and girls’ competition. However, the Diablos will be pushed by Mt. Carmel, Palm Springs and Loyola in the boys, while Mt. Carmel, Palm Springs challenge in the girls.

The meet will feature 13 boys’ and 12 girls’ teams.