SOUTHERN SECTION SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS : Hart Hangs Until Taking Last Plunge

Midway though Saturday night’s Southern Section Division II finals at Belmont Plaza, the Hart girls’ swim team was already making point calculations usually reserved for the final event.

Although the Indians’ chances of winning their first title appeared remote when the finals began, the run for the championship turned into a five-team race.

When Hart finished second in the 200-yard medley relay, setting a school record in the process, sophomore Becky Skyler began her scoreboard-watching.

“We all felt really good after that first race,” she said. “I’m already thinking about our next relay.”

The Indians’ championship dreams appeared to fade after a fourth-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay. But consolation championships by Amy Sexton (100 backstroke) and Erin Walsh (100 breaststroke) kept the Indians alive until Long Beach Wilson won the final event of the meet.

Hart finished second, 38.5 points behind Wilson. It nonetheless marked the best finish in school history.

Skyler did her part with two second-place finishes. She was a runner-up in the 100 butterfly for the second year in a row and lost by .03 seconds in the 50 freestyle (24.70) after leading in the opening 25 yards.

Sophomore Monica Oleksyn, who set a Division II record in the 100 breaststroke in 1994, saw her record broken by Hemet’s Coralie Simmons (1 minute 5.45 seconds). Oleksyn finished fourth, over two seconds slower than last year’s time.

Although Hart was expected to be among the top area girls’ teams, Foothill League rival Saugus also asserted itself, thanks to Heather Boylan and Katrina Reynoso.

Boylan, a freshman, had the top qualifying time in the 100 backstroke and followed through with a victory in the final in 57.48.

Boylan also finished third in the 200 freestyle (1:53.79). Reynoso placed fourth in the 200 individual medley (2:12.03) and third in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.68).

Both swam legs in the seventh-place 200 medley relay as the Centurions finished 11th overall.

In the boys’ finals, Crespi senior Mike Scarcelli shaved his head on a last-minute whim before the finals.

The move appeared to pay off in the 100 freestyle. Scarcelli finished .11 behind Jim Lowe of Tustin but had to settle for fourth place.

Crescenta Valley senior Jeff Robb placed fourth in the 50 and 100 freestyle.

The Falcons also defended their 200 freestyle relay title, by defeating Laguna Hills by one-hundredth of a second. The Falcons also won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:12.70.

Crescenta Valley finished tied for second, 21 points behind Laguna Hills.

Harvard-Westlake junior Albert Won finished second in the 100 breaststroke.