SWIMMING : Salcedo’s Title Drought Ends

Helen Salcedo of Bell High ended two years of frustration Wednesday when she won her first swimming title at the City Section finals at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

Salcedo, who in past finals had finished second three times and third-place once in other events, won the 100-yard butterfly in 1 minute, .46 seconds. She had raced only three times in that event.

Bell posted the best finish for a Central Los Angeles team, placing sixth in the girls’ standings. Palisades won the girls’ title. Birmingham beat perennial powerhouse Palisades to win the boys’ title.

Seven City records were set.

Last season, Salcedo lost to Granada Hills’ Kristine Quance in the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke. Quance swam a City Section and State record 1:01.79 to Salcedo’s 1:05.21 in the breaststroke. Quance’s breaststroke time was the second fastest in the nation for a high school swimmer. Quance also set a national high school record in the 200 individual medley Wednesday.

This season, Salcedo competed in the butterfly instead of the medley and her strategy paid off.

“I wanted to swim the butterfly because I liked it so much in practice,” said Salcedo, a senior. “I wanted to see what I could do.”

Salcedo, who spent three weeks practicing the butterfly, won the race by nearly a second.

Salcedo also swam on the Bell 200 medley relay team that took fourth and on the Eagles’ 400 freestyle relay team, which finished fifth.

In other races, Luis Loya of Roosevelt finished second in the 100 butterfly, .51 seconds behind winner Joshua Pepper of Birmingham. Loya swam a personal best of 56.83.

Huntington Park’s Pete Ramirez took fifth in the 200 individual medley in 2:19.41 and sixth in the 100 backstroke. Ramirez, who turned in the fourth-fastest qualifying time in the backstroke, finished sixth.