PREP SWIMMING / FOOTHILL GAMES : County’s Best to Warm Up for Section Finals

A preview of next month’s Southern Section swimming finals will take place starting at 10 a.m. today in the finals of the 22nd Foothill Swim Games at Foothill High.

Competing will be some of the county’s top boys’ and girls’ swim programs, including El Toro, Irvine, Marina, Corona del Mar, Capistrano Valley, Fountain Valley, Foothill and Santa Margarita. Top schools from outside the county are Palos Verdes Peninsula, Los Angeles Loyola, San Marino and Riverside North.

A key race is expected to be the girls’ 100 breaststroke, which matches two of the county’s best in Amber Wines of Santa Ana Valley and El Toro’s Katie Simmons. In another key matchup, Wendy O’Brien of Irvine will meet El Toro’s Katie Lowes in the girls’ 50 and 100 freestyle. On the boys’ side, Jason Lezak of Irvine will take on Corona del Mar’s Kevin Bobzien in the 50 freestyle.

Preliminaries were Thursday and Friday, and swimmers posting the top 16 times from each event advanced to today’s competition.

Also today is the Mission Viejo Invitational, which begins with preliminaries at 9 a.m. at Marguerite Recreation Center. Consolations and finals begin at 2:30 p.m. Fifteen schools from throughout the state, including Mission Viejo and Laguna Hills, are scheduled to participate.