San Pedro High’s Withey Gets Into Swim of Success

Jess Withey of San Pedro High had reason to be confident before last week’s City Section swimming championships at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

He knew that he was the top freestyle swimmer in the section, based on his undefeated record during the season. But he still had the pressure of expectations.

Then, Withey turned the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events into a personal showcase.

He swept both races with personal-best times, and his time of 21.03 seconds in the 50 is a City record. He won the 100 in 46.63.

“Seeing him swim like that sent chills all through me,” said Wayne Ray, San Pedro’s first-year coach. “He has been a person always in control who wanted to win every race he was in.”

While Withey was impressive individually, Pacific Palisades continued to reign as the City’s top team in both the boys’ and girls’ fields.

Palisades, which won eight of the 11 events, made it seven consecutive boys’ team titles, led by Tim Gair’s victories in the 100 butterfly and 200 freestyle. Palisades finished with 316 points. Van Nuys Birmingham was second with 232.

The Dolphin girls’ team was even better, scoring a City-record 342 points to Venice’s 246. Sophomore Louise Baker led the way with victories in the 50 and 100 freestyles.

Withey, a 6-foot junior, finished more than one second faster than the second-place finisher in the 50 freestyle and nearly three seconds ahead in the 100.

“I wasn’t expecting close races because I had swum against most everyone before,” Withey said.

Withey began his competitive swimming career in the Virgin Islands 12 years ago and since then has been determined to become one of the nation’s best.

Last month, he placed in the top six nationally in an age-group meet in both the 50 and 100 freestyles, and is considered one of the nation’s top college prospects.

“I’ve had to work hard to get to this point,” Withey said. “It has taken a lot of training and enthusiasm to stay in it. I know a lot of people who have stopped training because of the work involved.”

Throughout the season, Withey trained with the San Pedro High team and the San Pedro YMCA. He also lifted weights at school four times a week, along with any extra workouts he could fit in.

The work is paying off. His winning times are comparable to the top times in the Southern Section divisional finals.

“I knew that he had it coming,” Ray said. “He is always working to get better, and I know next year he will be capable of taking first or second nationally. I’ve seen him become more physically fit as the season went on, and he will only get better.”

A week after Mike LeDuc’s surprise resignation at Glendora, Steve Popovich of Huntington Beach Marina surprised school officials by announcing he was stepping down as boys’ basketball coach.

Popovich, whose claim to fame was coaching Cherokee Parks, will take over at a high school near Denver. His 19-year record at Marina was 268-161 and his teams won six Sunset League titles.

“Leaving Marina isn’t easy,” Popovich said last week. “It’s really difficult. But we had to look at the whole picture.”

No replacement has been chosen.

Marion Jones of Thousand Oaks gave notice to those who thought she was not improving with a record-breaking effort last Saturday at the Southern Section Division 3-A track and field preliminaries at Mission Viejo Trabuco Hills High.

Jones, the two-time defending State 100- and 200-meter champion, broke her national high school 200 record with a time of 22.67 seconds. She had set the previous mark of 22.76 last year as a sophomore running for Oxnard Rio Mesa. Her effort is especially impressive because she ran virtually by herself, finishing nearly three seconds ahead of the second-best qualifier.

If Jones, who also won the 100 in a wind-aided 11.22, ran against the boys’ 1-A competition, she would have been the fifth- and fourth-best qualifier in the 100 and 200, respectively.

In the girls’ 4-A division, Pasadena Muir’s hope of winning its fourth consecutive title was hurt when the Mustangs saw two runners transfer early in the season and hurdler Kelly Moten become ineligible because of poor grades.

Waiting in the wings to replace Muir is Long Beach Poly, which dominated the sprints and jumps.

The Jackrabbits placed first, second and fourth in the 100 meters; first and second in the 200 meters; first in the triple jump and 1,600-meter relay, and second in the 100-meter low hurdles.

Prep Notes

The Southern Section division finals in track and field will be held Saturday at Cerritos College. Field events will begin at 11 a.m. and the running events at 1 p.m. . . . The Southern Section softball pairings were released Monday. Top-seeded teams are: Santa Ana Mater Dei (5-A), La Habra (4-A) and Irvine Woodbridge (3-A). The wild-card round will begin today. First-round action is scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

Times’ Prep Baseball Rankings

CITY SECTION

No. School Div. Record LW 1. University 4-A 19-3 1 2. Poly 4-A 17-4 5 3. Kennedy 4-A 17-8 3 4. Westchester 4-A 19-6 4 5. Monroe 4-A 16-3-1 7 6. San Pedro 4-A 18-4 6 7. Granada Hills 4-A 15-6 2 8. El Camino Real 4-A 14-7 8 9. Grant 4-A 15-6 NR 10. Taft 4-A 12-7-1 10

SOUTHERN SECTION (FINAL)

No. School Div. Record LW 1. Diamond Bar 5-A 24-1 1 2. Huntington Beach 5-A 22-3 2 3. Hart 5-A 21-2 4 4. El Segundo 3-A 25-2 6 5. Lakewood 5-A 21-5 7 6. Mater Dei 5-A 21-4 5 7. El Dorado 5-A 20-5 8 8. Millikan 5-A 18-5-1 3 9. Simi Valley 5-A 19-6 12 10. Bishop Amat 5-A 19-5 13 11. Capistrano Valley 4-A 19-6 10 12. Norte Vista 2-A 22-2 15 13. Riverside Poly 5-A 19-6 NR 14. Rio Mesa 4-A 17-5-2 NR 15. Nogales 5-A 19-6 11