Farrell Gets Preliminaries Out of Way in Backstroke

Maureen Farrell got the hard part out of the way early.

The Alemany High sophomore qualified for the U.S. Swimming National Championships next week by posting the fastest time in the 100-meter backstroke preliminaries Tuesday morning at the Junior Championships West meet in San Jose.

The junior meet, which ends today, brings together the best 19-and-under swimmers west of the Mississippi River who have yet to qualify for the Nationals.

Farrell, 15, was planning to compete in relays for Canyons Aquatics at the Nationals but her time of 1:05.89 in the preliminaries qualified her in an individual event for the first time, just two years after joining Canyons.

In the final, Farrell lowered her time to 1:05.52, finishing second to Shea Fitzgerald of Evergreen.

Farrell’s performance in the 100 brought redemption for a lackluster performance in the 200 backstroke on Sunday. Farrell was hoping to finish near the national qualifying time of 2:20.79 but finished 25th in 2:26.22.

Farrell’s jump to the national elite was the latest in a series of solid performances by swimmers from the region.

Jana Richardson of Ventura High and Buenaventura won the consolation championship in the 200 freestyle, but her time of 2:05.08 was the third-fastest overall and broke the qualifying time by nearly a second.

Richardson tied for third in the consolation final of the 100 freestyle.

Ian Prichard of Buena High won the 400 freestyle in 4:01.67, bettering the qualifying time by more than half a second.

Prichard was fourth in the 200 freestyle and fifth in the 400 freestyle.

Anthony Ervin of Hart High, who previously qualified in the 50 and 100 freestyle, finished second in the 100 backstroke in 58.91, missing the qualifying time by .02.

Jennifer Parmenter of Granada Hills High, who has been slowed by injuries, illness and family problems most of the year, made the finals of the 100 breaststroke and 100 butterfly. She was fourth in the 100 breaststroke--good enough to qualify for the Nationals--and sixth in the 100 butterfly.

Swim Pasadena, led by senior Kenny Carpenter of Crescenta Valley and recent Notre Dame graduate Joel Everman, won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:33.40. Everman has committed to USC.

Ryan Parmenter of Hart High and Canyons barely missed qualifying for the Nationals with a third-place time of 1:54.92 in the 200 freestyle. He needed 1:54.29. He made the consolation finals in the 400 freestyle.

Parmenter barely missed a second swim in the 100 freestyle with a 25th-place finish. The top 24 from each morning session get a second chance in the evening.

Jason Weber of Conejo-Simi Aquatics, a graduate of Westlake High, was eighth in the 200 backstroke in 2:09.88. Weber, who will swim at Brown, made the consolation final of the 100 backstroke.

Matt Carter, a 1997 Buena High graduate, won the 800 freestyle Saturday, finished second in the 400 freestyle and made the consolation finals in the 200 freestyle.

Others who finished in the top 24 included Aron Gyuris of Thousand Oaks High (200 butterfly), Kristine Ross of Chaminade (200 butterfly), Jamie Zwick of Buckley (200 breaststroke), Everman (200, 400 freestyle) and Nick Smith of USC, a 1997 graduate of Chaminade (100, 200 freestyle).