PREP SWIMMING ROUNDUP : Mission Viejo Tired, but Wins Its Invitational

Some of them were almost too sore to smile.

You would have expected to see ear-to-ear grins after Mission Viejo took team victories in the girls’ and boys’ divisions Saturday afternoon at the Mission Viejo Swim Invitational, but several team members felt proud just to walk out of the Mission Viejo Recreation Center on their own.

“See how a lot of them were saying they’re sore,” said Mission Viejo Coach Mike Pelton, who challenged his team to a tough 8,000-yard workout the night before. “My kids were dragging.”

But the Diablos managed to drag themselves through the water quickly enough to take top team honors. Mission Viejo posted 1,365 points to run away with the boys’ title, while second-place Poway finished with 946.5. On the girls’ side, the Diablos (318) outpaced Lafayette Acalanes (264).

“We’re still in hard training,” said Robert Delgado, who won the 100-yard butterfly in 52.23 seconds but was disappointed not to break 51 seconds. “We have three days of hard training left before we taper. We were getting our butts kicked Thursday and Friday.”

Pelton provided the kicking. As he prepares his team for the upcoming South Coast League meet and Southern Section championships, his goal for his swimmers Saturday was to perform as well as they could considering their fatigued states and that preliminaries and finals were held the same day.

Mission Viejo’s Cheryl Murphy, who recently set a junior national record in the 200-yard backstroke, set a meet record as she won the 100 backstroke in 58.53. Her time broke a 13-year-old mark of 58.63 set by Mission Viejo’s Sippy Woodhead.