PREP SWIMMING ROUNDUP : Mission Viejo Dominates League Meet

It’s no secret Mission Viejo High School benefits from the Nadadores swimmers who train in the city. However, Coach Mike Pelton said his part-timers were equally valuable in the Diablos’ first-place finishes at the South Coast League finals Friday at El Toro High.

“Many times people think we’re just Nadadores,” Pelton said. “Obviously we are led by U.S.S. swimmers that swim year round, but we had some regular high school swimmers that scored valuable points for us today.”

The top-ranked Mission Viejo boys’ team scored 529 points, 140 more than second-place Capistrano Valley. Trabuco Hills was third (297), followed by San Clemente (222), Mater Dei (216) and Dana Hills (153).

Mission Viejo’s Bart Kizierowski set meet records in the 50 freestyle (20.80) and 100 backstroke (51.02) and Trabuco Hills did the same in the 200 freestyle relay (1:28.44).

Mission Viejo junior Goh Phuangthong was named boys’ swimmer of the meet after winning the 200 individual medley (1:53.10) and 500 freestyle (4:36.93).

The seventh-ranked Diablos girls’ team held a three-point advantage after the 100 freestyle, but distanced itself from second-place Capistrano Valley, ranked sixth, and third-place Mater Dei by winning 44 points in the 100 breaststroke and 48 in the 100 backstroke.

Cheryl Murphy led Mission Viejo with victories in the 200 individual medley (2:07.64) and 100 backstroke (59.64).

Capistrano Valley’s Jeannine Povey was named girls’ swimmer of the meet after winning the 100 (53.30) and 200 freestyle (1:56.81) events.

Ten Mission Viejo swimmers and all six relay teams qualified for the Southern Section preliminaries. Capistrano Valley will send seven swimmers, San Clemente four, Trabuco Hills three and Mater Dei and Dana Hills one each.