DIVISION II SWIMMING : Sonora Boys Edged Out of Championship

They should have just flipped a coin for it.

Stroke by stroke, the boys’ and girls’ team titles of the Division II Southern Section swimming championships came down to the wire.

Everyone, it seemed, wanted to win. But after the waves settled on Belmont Plaza late Saturday night, the Walnut girls and the Crescenta Valley boys prevailed.

As it was for the Laguna Hills boys earlier in the day, the result hinged on the 400-yard free relay. This time, the Sonora boys held a 28-point lead over Crescenta Valley, but lacked a relay team in the finale.

With its top-seeded relay team and the blistering speed of anchor John Jenkins, Crescenta Valley won the race, and the championship.

It was the first time Sonora, which finished a distant second in the Freeway League to Sunny Hills, finished in the top two spots of a section meet. Last year, the Raiders were third.

“I’m thrilled,” Sonora Coach Jack Hawkins said. “Before the meet one of our kids was adding up the numbers and said, ‘Hey coach, look at this.’ I’m glad I didn’t know (beforehand), I would have been so nervous.”

Crescenta Valley nipped Sonora, 126-121. Empire League champion Los Alamitos finished fourth with 108 points.

Sonora’s and Los Alamitos’ boys were in the thick of the team race. Halfway through the program, Sonora, aided by first-, third-, sixth- and eighth-place finishes in diving, took a 16-point lead over the Griffins.

“We picked up 42 points from our divers and 53 points from two outstanding swimmers, Jay Judson and Jernej Seljak,” Hawkins said.

Judson and Seljak finished 1-2 in the 100 breaststroke to boost Sonora’s efforts.

Irvine and Woodbridge, which finished third and sixth, were the top two Orange County girls’ teams. Walnut won the title with 137 points to Long Beach Wilson’s 106.

Irvine, which won its first Sea View League girls’ title last week, started the meet well. Although the Vaqueros were in the consolation final, their 200 medley relay time of 1:54.82 would have placed them fourth in the championship final.

“This is great,” Irvine Coach Scott Hinman said. “The best Irvine has ever done was fourth.”

Jamiee Lindstrom, with victories in the 200 individual medley and 100 back, was instrumental in Woodbridge’s effort.

“I knew I had to get out fast,” she said. “I’m not a good catch-up swimmer.”

Lindstrom proved her preliminary time in the 200 individual medley wasn’t indicative of her talent when she won the race by almost two seconds. Her 2:05.79 was a personal best.

Lindstrom’s 58.06 in the 100 back was another personal best.

In the 200 medley relay, the Los Alamitos boys were in contention until Jenkins jumped in. Jenkins’ lightning-quick anchor split of 19.79 drew his team out of a three-way race for first and had fans wondering what Jenkins would do for an encore in the 50 free.

Jenkins’ relay leg, which would have been a national record had he swum leadoff, wasn’t recognized because it was an anchor leg, where a rolling start accounts for quicker times.

Jenkins, who is 6-foot-8 and plays on Crescenta Valley’s basketball team, broke a five-year-old section record in the preliminaries when he swam a 20.55, then bettered his mark by turning in a 20.53 Saturday. Jenkins was close to breaking a section record in the 100 free, which he easily won.

With a 23.16, Arcadia’s Lonna Stacey swam the fastest known high school girls’ 50 free in the country this year. Jenkins’ and Stacey’s times in the 50 bettered the winning Division I times from Friday’s meet.

Tim Haney of Los Alamitos was seeded behind two Sonora swimmers in the 200 individual medley, but won with a 1:54.01. Sonora’s Seljak, an exchange student from Slovenia, was second.