Meet a Break for Area Swimmers

Few swimming meets have been lost because of an errant shoe, but few meets are like the Patrick Henry Invitational Radical Relays.

As the name implies, this meet is far from conventional.

There’s the 200-yard balloon relay, sweat shirt relay, inner tube relay, tennis shoe relay. . . . You get the idea.

“Swimming here (in San Diego) is so serious. It’s much more competitive than it used to be,” said Patrick Henry Coach Darryl Bowlin, who coached the girls’ team from 1973-81 and has both teams now. “(Swimmers) need something like this to break up the monotony. They work so hard, they need something fun.”

There was no pressure to make the San Diego Section qualifying standard, just to swim 50 yards with tennis shoes on, get to the next person in the relay, get the shoes off and on to the feet of the next person in the relay until the shoes have been worn by all four team members.

In fact, the tennis shoe cost Patrick Henry the championship. Joanna Reed lost the shoe in the middle of the second leg of the race. She retrieved it and continued with the shoe in tow, but not on her foot. Her team won the race but was disqualified and it was the difference in the final score. Such are the perils of having small feet.

University of San Diego High eventually defeated Henry by eight points, 128-120. University City took third with 116 points and Clairemont fourth with 105. There were seven teams this year, but Bowlin wants to have at least eight next year.

The balloon, sweat shirt and inner tube relays were similar to the tennis shoe relay. All races were 200 yards in the Allied Gardens pool and there was separate competition for boys, girls and co-ed teams.

“These are the only relays I know of that are like this,” Bowlin said. “We’re ready for Poway now.”

But is two-time defending San Diego Section champion Poway ready for this?

Trivia time: Last year, which baseball pitcher set a section record for most consecutive hitless innings?

The right stuff: Junior Aaron Harmon didn’t even start for Mt. Carmel this season, but he had the right stuff to win the San Diego County Coca-Cola/Nike Shoes Slam-N-Jam. Harmon edged University City’s Elliott Alexander in a double dunk-off.

Harmon spent most of the night throwing the ball toward the basket, taking it on the bounce and slamming it or doing a glide from near the free-throw line. After a tie in regulation and a tie on the first extra dunk, he got some help from his friends. The 6-foot-2 backup guard looked into the stands. Mike Graves, a Mt. Carmel finalist last year, told him to glide from the free-throw line. Another friend, Brian Hernandez, told Harmon to tuck his feet behind him and grab his ankles. Harmon combined the advice and scored 98 out of 100. The 6-5 Alexander missed his dunk, making Harmon champion.

Incidentally, Harmon didn’t get much practice this season. Coach John Marincovich has a gym rule, no dunking allowed.

Harmon and Alexander had 193 points in the finals. Darnay Scott, who provided the most authoritative dunks of the night, had 192. El Camino’s Brian Buck was fourth, Lincoln’s Scott Hammond fifth.

The dunking was more difficult than you might think. Only 16 of the 29 contestants made their first first-round dunk. And even though the lowest score of three dunks was tossed out, only five of the 10 semifinalists made two of their three dunks, and none made all three.

Sharing glory: Taking a page out of major league baseball history, a la Fernando Valenzuela and Dave Stewart, a pair of softball pitchers threw no-hitters on the same day. Rancho Buena Vista’s Audrey Wood struck out 15 in a 2-0 victory Wednesday over West Hills. She topped her previous best performance, a one-hit, 16-strikeout victory against Patrick Henry.

On the same day, Charlene Reyes pitched San Marcos to a 2-0 victory over Santana. Reyes walked seven and hit a batter.

And how’s this for sharing perfection? San Pasqual senior Renee Williams struck out eight in the first three innings of her team’s 20-0 victory over Lincoln and sophomore teammate Erin Combe retired the final 12 batters to complete a perfect game. She had three strikeouts.

The fast lane: Sophomore Kendall Lane, who commuted from Vista to Poway to compete for the United Poway Penasquitos Rancho Bernardo swim team for more than a year, transferred to Poway High School from Rancho Buena Vista this year.

In the first week of the Palomar League season, against her former teammates, Lane won the 100 breaststroke (worth six points), took fourth in the 50 freestyle (two points) and participated in two relays that finished first and second (a combined 12 points).

Adding one-fourth of the relay points to the other points, Lane was responsible for 11 points for Poway. Give those points to RBV and take them away from Poway and RBV would have beaten the two-time San Diego Section champions.

Trivia answer: Orange Glen pitcher Scott Coleman pitched 16 consecutive no-hit innings last year, breaking by one the 16-year-old record held by El Capitan’s Jeff Byrd.