Southern Section Swimming Championships : Los Alamitos Girls Could Be Best of Best

The dominant team at this weekend’s Southern Section swim finals might not come from Mission Viejo or even be a part of the 4-A meet.

True, the Mission Viejo High School boys’ team has won 14 consecutive titles, and the Capistrano Valley girls’ team appears ready to win its third consecutive championship. But both teams are expected to face stiff competition.

The Los Alamitos girls, on the other hand, might have more than enough talent to repeat as champions in the 3-A meet, which will be at 7 p.m. Saturday at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

The team is so powerful that even Coach Debbie Fleming can’t find a challenger.

“I’ve been looking through the newspapers, trying to see who we have to beat,” Fleming said. “I don’t know who it’s going to be.”

Thirteen Los Alamitos girls qualified for the preliminaries, one more than last season. Los Alamitos won the 1988 title with 188 points, 33 more than second-place Hacienda Heights Wilson.

Included in this year’s field for the Griffins is Stacy St. Martin, who won the 200-yard freestyle and finished third in the 500 freestyle. She was the only Los Alamitos’ swimmer to win an individual event.

That might change this year because Fleming has several strong swimmers.

Marci Herron and Kim Rubino will swim the 200 and 100 freestyles. Nikki Herron also will swim the 200 and the 100 butterfly.

Nicholle Davis is the Griffins’ top sprinter and will compete in the 50 and 100 freestyles. Julie Shikiya will swim the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke.

“I don’t see any team in the 3-A that has as much depth as we do,” Fleming said. “This group that’s going through the program now were good age-group swimmers since they were 6.”

Nicole Williamson is one of those top swimmers. She finished second 500 freestyle and 200 individual medley last season and is likely to do so again Saturday.

Janet Evans of El Dorado, who won three gold medals in the Olympics, set national records in both events last season. Evans’ presence at the meet makes the 200 individual medley and 500 freestyle foregone conclusions.

Even with Evans, who also will swim a leg of the freestyle relay, El Dorado will not challenge for the team championship. The Golden Hawks finished third in the Empire League meet, which Los Alamitos won for the sixth consecutive season.

In the 3-A boys’ meet, San Marino is expected to repeat as champion. The Titans have six swimmers who were in the finals last season, including Jason Sakamoto and Mark Deetjen, who finished second and third, respectively, in the 100 backstroke.

The Mission Viejo boys and Capistrano Valley girls are considered the favorites at the 4-A meet at 7 tonight at Belmont Plaza.

Although the Diablos lost the South Coast League meet for the first time since 1974, they figure to be the team to beat because of the last-minute addition of Tsukasa Kawabuchi.

Kawabuchi, a foreign exchange student from Japan, didn’t swim for Mission Viejo until the last day of the regular season. He qualified for the Southern Section preliminaries on Saturday in a dual meet against Santa Margarita.

The Southern Section accepted qualifying times on Saturday. Kawabuchi will swim the 50 and 100 freestyle.

“If he wins those two events, it’ll mean 32 points for Mission Viejo,” Villa Park Coach Jeff Ehrlich said. “If the meet is as close as I think it will be, that will mean a lot.”

In the girls’ meet, the Cougars have a strong nucleus back from last year’s championship team. They’ve even added Amy Shaw, who was ineligible last season. She will swim the 200 and 500 freestyles.

Foothill, Marina and Mission Viejo girls’ teams also figure to be strong.

Woodbridge will be among the challengers in the 2-A boys’ meet at 2 p.m. Saturday at Belmont Plaza.

The Warriors finished third last year and have several swimmers back, including Chad Hundeby. Hundeby, who won the 1,000-meter freestyle at the U.S. Short Course championships in April, set 2-A records in the 200 and 500 freestyles last season.

Agoura, which finished fifth last season, has six swimmers who competed in last year’s finals. The Chargers are led by Jason Stelle, who finished second in the 100 backstroke in 1988, and Tyler Cadham, who finished second in the 100 breaststroke.

In the girls’ competition, Trabuco Hills is led by sophomore Amy Ward, who finished second in the 200 and 500 freestyles last season.