PREP SWIMMING / FOOTHILL SWIM GAMES : El Toro Victory, Records Steal Spotlight at Big Meet

When announcer Don Brandley told spectators at the 22nd Foothill Swim Games they would be witnessing some fast times at Foothill High, most in the stands seemed unfazed by the announcer’s prediction. But at day’s end, even Brandley was surprised at some of the times turned in.

Overall, four records were set, some nearly broken and some of the season’s fastest times in Orange County were recorded at Saturday’s meet.

In team competition, El Toro was first overall with 582 points. The Chargers were first in the girls’ competition with 366 points. The boys finished fourth with 216. Los Angeles Loyola was first in the boys’ competition with 302 points.

In all, 15 Orange and Los Angeles county schools competed in finals and consolation.

Irvine’s Wendy O’Brien, who won races in the 50 and 100 freestyle, set a meet record and came close to breaking another.

O’Brien, a sophomore, broke the four-year 50-yard freestyle record of Capistrano Valley’s Christy Carolin by seven-hundredths of a second, finishing in 23.93 seconds.

The girls’ 50 and 100 free were among the highlights of the meet. O’Brien and Katie Lowes of El Toro competed, both entering the meet with the county’s top two times.

“I thought I could beat her in the 50 free,” O’Brien said. “I had the record in the back of my mind, but my first concern was beating Katie.”

O’Brien’s time in the 100 free (51.98), her lifetime best, was less than a tenth of a second off Lisa Jacob’s 1992 record and is the fastest time recorded this year in the county.

The second record was broken by Santa Ana Valley’s Amber Wines, whose 100 breaststroke time of 1:04.47, shattered the 10-year-old record of Fountain Valley’s Amy Clark by more than a second.

Like the 50 and 100 free, the 100 breaststroke was expected to be a battle between Wines and Katie Simmons of El Toro. But when Wines dived off the block and came up ahead of the pack, it was apparent she was after more than a victory over Simmons.

“I wanted to break the record, and I felt I could,” said Wines, a sophomore. “It always nice to have Katie (Simmons) next to me because that will make me swim that much faster.”

Cathy Carone, a double winner from Capistrano Valley, broke her 100 butterfly record set last year, swimming 58.76 in Thursday’s preliminaries. She was off her record time, however, at Saturday’s finals, taking first in 59.09.

Jason Lezak of Irvine easily won the 50 (21.30) and 100 (47.30) freestyles. His time in the 50 free eclipsed the 1987 mark of Corona del Mar’s Jeff Thomason (21.45).

Other double winners included Philippe Demers of Santa Margarita, who won the 200 individual medley (1:56.15) and the 100 butterfly (52.20); Marina’s Alison Mijares in the 200 (1:57.34) and the 500 freestyle (5:02.66) and Ben Odell of Loyola in the 100 backstroke (53.58) and the 200 freestyle (1:44.04).

Both Lezak and O’Brien collected the Steve Furniss Award, given to the outstanding boy and girl swimmer of the meet.

Though El Toro placed first in only one individual event and competed in two relays in the final heats, the Chargers were able to place many swimmers in the consolations and finals, which resulted in the girls posting the top score and the boys taking fourth place.

“It was awesome on how well we did, considering that our swimmers are very tired,” said El Toro girls’ Coach Sheri Ross said. “This is a good meet to show us where we are at before CIF starts next month. And considering that our girls are not shaved and tapered, we did very good.”