Irvine’s O’Brien Defeats Former Olympian

Irvine High sophomore Wendy O’Brien, representing the Irvine Novaquatics Swim Club, won the 50-meter freestyle, defeating 1992 Olympian Angie Wester-Krieg of Stanford on the first day of the International Grand Challenge Senior Invitational on Friday at Heritage Aquatic Complex.

O’Brien, who has just completed her high school season, won the event in 27.29 seconds. Her winning time, which is a senior national qualifying time, was slower than the 27.15 she swam earlier in preliminaries.

Wester-Krieg finished second in 27.81 and Stanford teammate Lisa Jacob finished third. Wester-Krieg won the 400 freestyle in 4:24.84 with Jacob taking second.

The Mission Viejo Nadadores swept the 400 freestyle with Philippe Demers of Santa Margarita High winning in 4:09.85. Ahmad Filsoof of Mission Viejo was second and Santa Margarita’s Brenden Herlihy third. German swimmer Bjorn Zikarsky won the 50 free in 24.26.

Jessica Tong, formerly of Golden West Swim Club in Huntington Beach who now swims for Stanford, won the 200 backstroke in 2:25.48.