SOUTHERN SECTION 3-A SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS : It’s No Contest: Los Alamitos Wins

Debbie Fleming stood by the pool Saturday night, stopwatch dangling from her neck and clipboard in hand. While timing her swimmers, she searched for an answer.

The question: Could the Los Alamitos High School girls’ swim team lose in the Southern Section 3-A finals?

“To tell you the truth, we can only get better,” said Fleming, the Griffins’ coach.

Better? This was a team that qualified nine swimmers for the finals in 14 events. How could the Griffins possibly get better?

Easily.

Los Alamitos cruised to its third consecutive 3-A championship Saturday at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach. Los Alamitos finished with 183 points, which was nearly 100 points ahead of second-place Brea-Olinda, which had 89.

“This was a race for second place from the start,” Brea-Olinda Coach Phyllis Curry said. “You can’t compete with Los Alamitos’ numbers.”

Nicole Williamson was the top swimmer for the Griffins and the only member of the team to win an individual event. She won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:55.01.

It was first time that Williamson had won an event in three years of Southern Section competition.

In the past, she had the misfortune of swimming in the same events as Janet Evans. Williamson finished second to Evans in the 500 freestyle in 1988 and 1989.

“That last two years, I kind of accepted the fact that I was going to finish second,” Williamson said. “It was OK. But this year, I would have been disappointed if I hadn’t finished first.”

Williamson also finished second in the 200 individual medley.

Los Alamitos’ only other first-place finish was in the 400 freestyle relay, which the Griffins won by 25 yards.

Although they won only one individual event, the Griffins had plenty of depth. They had at least one swimmer in every event.

Stacy St. Martin finished second in the 200 freestyle and third in the 500 freestyle. Nicole Davis finished third in the 100 freestyle. Kim Rubino tied for second in the 100 breaststroke.

“We knew we should win, but we had to get up for it,” Williamson said. “We couldn’t just show up, swim and win. We didn’t do well in the prelims and that made me a little nervous. We had to be prepared individually, that was the only way we would do well as a team.”

In the boys’ competition, San Marino dominated, finishing with 237 points. The Titans won the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:36.55, breaking the 3-A record that San Marino had set in 1977.

San Marino also broke the 3-A record in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:07.81. The Titans held the previous record (3:07.87).