THE TIMES’ ALL-COUNTY TEAMS : Carolin Runs Her Freestyle Victory Streak to Its Limit : Girls’ swimming: The Capistrano Valley senior can relax since winning a Southern Section championship in four consecutive years.

Christy Carolin said she is happy her high school swim career is finally over.

It’s not that her four years of swimming for Capistrano Valley High School were anything to be depressed about. On the contrary, Carolin had tremendous success at the Southern Section 4-A meet during her career.

Carolin, The Times’ swimmer of the year, won the 50-yard freestyle championship four consecutive years, a feat accomplished by only three other female swimmers in Southern Section history. She also won the 100 freestyle as a sophomore and a senior.

But with each victory came the pressure to continue winning.

“I wanted to go out and win, and I did,” said Carolin, who will swim for the University of Arizona next year. “But there’s a lot less stress now that’s it over.”

When Carolin was a freshman, her goal was to win the 50 freestyle four consecutive years. At that time, she didn’t realize that, by doing so, she would join an elite group of Southern Section swimmers.

Only Janet Evans of El Dorado (500 freestyle), Jill Sterkle of Hacienda Heights Wilson (100 freestyle) and Shannon Orcutt of Capistrano Valley (100 breaststroke) had won their events four consecutive seasons.

“I thought a lot of people had done it,” Carolin said. “Then Coach (Don) Cholodenko told me earlier this year that I could be one of the few to win four straight years. That put more pressure on me to win.”

Not that she needed more pressure. During her four years at Capistrano Valley, Carolin never lost in the 50 freestyle, so winning that event had become expected of her.

“I had to go out and win every time,” Carolin said. “My friends would come see me swim and when I won it was like no big deal. But if I would have lost, everyone would have been real shocked.”

Carolin has been swimming competitively since age 8. She got involved because of her sister, Kim Carolin, who swam for the YMCA in Spokane, Wash.

Christy Carolin went to most of her sister’s workouts and was talked into trying out for the team by the coach.

“He said, ‘Why don’t you get in and swim instead of watching,’ ” Carolin said. “When I won my first race, he said, ‘Hey, this is your sport, go do it.’ ”

And Carolin has.

When her father was transferred to Southern California six years ago, Carolin and her sister joined the Mission Viejo Nadadores. She later moved to the Irvine Novaquatics when she was a sophomore and then last season joined the Saddleback Valley Aquatics.

Carolin continued to improve as a sprinter and, as a freshman, she edged her sister in the 50 freestyle at the Southern Section 4-A championships. Kim Carolin, then a sophomore, was the defending champion in the event.

“I wasn’t surprised that I won,” Christy Carolin said. “I knew there was going to be some tough competition, especially from Kim. But I wanted to win the 50 all four years, so I had to win as a freshman.”

This season was the toughest for Carolin. During the winter she had to fight a series of illnesses, ranging from the flu to colds. She also strained muscles in her neck during winter vacation, which slowed her training.

“That’s usually one of the best times for training, because you can go two-a-days and still sleep in,” Carolin said. “With the colds and the neck injury, I wasn’t getting enough time in the pool. I was worried that I would be behind in training for the Southern Section meet.”

She wasn’t.

Carolin was the top qualifier during the prelims and won the final with a time of 23.69 seconds.

“My first thought was, ‘It’s over,’ ” Carolin said. “Now I could concentrate on college and how well I was going to do there. I still have a lot to accomplish.”

ALL-COUNTY GIRLS’ SWIMMING TEAM

Event Player, School Year 200 Freestyle Sionainn Marcoux, Senior First Foothill swimmer to win two Foothill Southern Section events in one year 200 Indiv. Medley Michelle Ham, Junior Went from fourth in 1989 4-A meet to Fountain Valley first in 1990 50 Freestyle Christy Carolin, Senior Fourth girls’ swimmer to win an event Capistrano Valley four consecutive years 100 Butterfly Shona Baille, Freshman Helped the Diablos win the Southern Mission Viejo Section 4-A championship 100 Freestyle Christy Carolin, Senior Won the 100 freestyle for the second Capistrano Valley time in three years 500 Freestyle Sionainn Marcoux, Senior Broke her school record in the 500 Foothill freestyle 100 Backstroke Laura Ellison, Junior Set a school record in the 100-yard Foothill backstroke 100 Breaststroke Michelle Ham, Junior Won the 100 breaststroke at the 4-A Fountain Valley meet for the second consecutive year Diving Joy Burkholder, Sophomore Finished second in 4-A diving for the Capistrano Valley second consecutive year 200 Medley Relay Foothill Laura Ellison, Heather Marks, Megan Logan and Libby Kellerman 400 Free Relay Mission Viejo Barbara Franco, Katrina Triska, Jennifer Greenfield and Claudia Franco

Event Time 200 Freestyle 1:49.68 First Foothill swimmer to win two Southern Section events in one year 200 Indiv. Medley 2:04.24 Went from fourth in 1989 4-A meet to first in 1990 50 Freestyle 23.69 Fourth girls’ swimmer to win an event four consecutive years 100 Butterfly 57.53 Helped the Diablos win the Southern Section 4-A championship 100 Freestyle 51.58 Won the 100 freestyle for the second time in three years 500 Freestyle 4:49.86 Broke her school record in the 500 freestyle 100 Backstroke 58.13 Set a school record in the 100-yard backstroke 100 Breaststroke 1:04.26 Won the 100 breaststroke at the 4-A meet for the second consecutive year Diving 449.40 Finished second in 4-A diving for the second consecutive year 200 Medley Relay 1:50.10 Laura Ellison, Heather Marks, Megan Logan and Libby Kellerman 400 Free Relay 3:33.81 Barbara Franco, Katrina Triska, Jennifer Greenfield and Claudia Franco

Swimmer of the year: Christy Carolin, Capistrano Valley