PREP SWIMMING / CITY CHAMPIONSHIPS : A Record Night for Quance

Kristine Quance of Granada Hills High moved up to the high rent district Wednesday night during the City Section swimming championships at Belmont Shores, setting national prep records in the 200-yard medley and the 100 breaststroke.

Quance broke Janet Evans’ national prep record in the girls’ 200-yard medley with a time of 1:59.53. Evans had a time of 1:59.96 while at El Dorado High in Placentia in 1989.

Quance, a senior who held the City Section medley mark of 2:01.08, beat her nearest competitor by over 18 seconds.

She won the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:01.79, breaking the record of 1:01.88 by Mary Ellen Blanchard of Norco, Ga. Quance had also held the City Section record of 1:02.86.

Quance also swam the the breaststroke leg on Granada Hills’ 200 medley relay, teaming with sisters Julie (backstroke) and Keri (freestyle) and Erin Shaw (butterfly) to break the City Section record with a time of 1:55.75.

Quance and Shaw also contributed to Granada Hills’ victory in the 400 freestyle relay at 3:43.98, but all those victories couldn’t keep Palisades from claiming the girls’ team title. Birmingham won the boys’ team championship.

Quance and company were not the only ones breaking city records.

Birmingham’s Gretchen Ballard claimed two City records in the girls’ 50 and 100 freestyles. She had a time of 24.04 in the 50 to break the previous mark of 24.70 set by Steph Hoisch of Reseda’s 1985. Her time of 51.86 in the 100 broke the record of 53.17 set by Palisades’ Tara Vandeweghe’s .

Jess Withey of San Pedro also set two records in the boys’ 50 and 100 freestyles.

He clocked a 20.87 in the 50, beating his old record of 21.03, and had a 45.19 in the 100 to better the mark of Bob Balducci, who swam a 45.83 for El Camino Real in 1985.

Ballard and Withey qualified for the junior nationals with their times in the 50 freestyle and Withey qualified for the senior nationals in the 100 freestyle.