Sacred Heart Wins on Deep Talent Pool

The lineup for the 500-yard freestyle perfectly illustrated how the Flintridge Sacred Heart girls’ swim team claimed the Southern Section Division III title.

The Tologs more than dominated the left side of the pool. They were the left side of the pool.

Even though none of the swimmers occupying lanes five through eight finished higher than third, sheer depth carried Sacred Heart in the 500 and the entire meet.

The Tologs didn’t win an event but their total of 233 points was enough to clinch their first section title Saturday at Belmont Plaza.

Sophomore Jennifer Abbey’s second-place finish in the 200 individual medley was matched in the 400 freestyle relay by Megan Jones, Abbey, Alison Abbey and Kelly Evanilla.

“We were so young and so deep, we all had a really good feeling coming into the finals,” Jones said. “We’ve known it all year.”

Other than senior Marietta Grotz, the Tologs consisted entirely of freshmen and sophomores and were coming off a fifth-place finish in 1994.

Even fifth place can be considered an accomplishment given the pool at Sacred Heart is just four lanes and home meets are contested at Pasadena City College.

Freshman Kim Feig helped Louisville tie for sixth with a surprising second-place finish in the 100 backstroke.

Feig, who moved to the area from Oregon earlier this year, swam a personal-best 58.72 from the outside lane. She also swam a leg on the 400 freestyle relay team which finished third.

Senior Rosemary Immordino of Alemany placed in two finals, finishing sixth in the 50 freestyle (25.37) and fourth in the 100 freestyle (55.09).

Swimming the sprints was a switch for Immordino, who is headed for Cal State Northridge. She finished fifth in the 500 freestyle the past two years.

“I wanted to try something different, to show I was a little more versatile.” Immordino said.

Defending champion Harvard-Westlake didn’t expect another title after the graduation of distance specialist Alexis Larsen, who almost single-handedly gave the Wolverines the title, but Coach Darlene Bible didn’t miss the pressure of having to compete for a title.

“This year was a lot more relaxing for me and the kids,” Bible said. “They’re swimming what they want to, rather than what we need them to.”

The Wolverines’ highest finish in the finals came in the diving, held Thursday in Irvine. Junior Bennet Burt placed third, less than a point behind second-place Francie McCoppin of Sacred Heart.

Junior Helicia Paz (sixth in the 100 butterfly) and the 400 freestyle relay team were the only Wolverine entrants to make the finals in swimming events as Westlake tied for 10th.

La Canada freshman Dana Stoddard was the only other area swimmer to qualify for two individual finals.

Stoddard placed sixth in the 200 freestyle (1:58.69) and fifth in the 500 freestyle (5:11.28).

Cornerstone Christian sophomore Mathew Roe was the lone boys’ finalist, finishing eighth in the 500 freestyle in 4:55.28.

David Chan of Ridgecrest Burroughs won the 100 backstroke in 50.04, breaking the five-year-old Division III record of Agoura’s Jason Stelle (50.87).