THE TIMES 1994 SPRING ALL-COUNTY TEAMS : O’Brien Making Mark in Sprints : Swimmer of the year: Irvine sophomore set meet records in 50 freestyle, and just missed in the 100.

Wendy O’Brien, 15, exploded onto the high school swimming scene in March, when she recorded a senior national-standard time in the 50-yard freestyle, finishing first at the junior nationals in Grand Forks, N.D.

That’s not to say O’Brien, a sophomore at Irvine, wasn’t already one of the county’s top freestyle sprinters.

At the Foothill Swim Games in April, she set a meet record of 23.94 seconds in the 50 free, breaking a four-year record. At the same meet, O’Brien swam a personal best in the 100 free and came within 0.1 seconds of a record.

In addition to her victories in the 100 and 50 frees at the Sea View League finals, she broke a 10-year-old meet record in the 50 free with a time of 24.13.

She would face her biggest challenge in the Southern Section Division II championship finals at Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach. There, Walnut’s Judy Thomas and Arcadia’s Lonna Stacey, who both had soundly defeated her in last year’s finals, would again be in the 50 free field.

In the 50 free finals, O’Brien, who was fresh off a 22.80 freestyle anchor split for the winning 200 medley relay team, got off the blocks quickly and left no doubt she was the meet’s fastest swimmer, finishing in a personal-best 23.57.

Her winning time of 51.06 in the next race, the 100 free, was the eighth-fastest in the nation.