VALLEY / VENTURA COUNTY SPORTS

Rather than get pulled under by a riptide of grief, Canyon High Swims for Tim.

Tim Renolds, a 17-year-old senior breaststroker and freestyler, was killed in a Feb. 17 car accident that also killed his brother, 15-year-old Daniel Renolds, and Dominic Ianozzi, 16.

The driver, Marcus Christian Lellan, 18, pleaded guilty April 11 to four felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and one misdemeanor count of reckless driving involving bodily injury.

Rodney David Adams, driver of the other vehicle, also was killed.

“At the time, I was shocked,” said Raffaele Perrotta, the team’s captain. “We were best friends. I couldn’t believe it.”

Neither could Alan Sanden, another Canyon swimmer.

“We were best friends, Tim, Raff and me,” Sanden said. “We were all competitive. We were always talking trash to each other, like, ‘I’m going to beat you,’ ‘I’m going to beat you,’ back and forth like that.”

Tim Renolds’ death led to the establishment of the Canyon Memorial Scholarship Fund, which will provide college funds for a senior on the swim team each year.

To raise money for the scholarship, Canyon swimmers have taken up collections and staged a car wash and pizza night.

Wednesday, Hart presented a check for $200 to the brothers’ parents, Tom and Alice Renolds, before a Foothill League meet at North Oaks Park in Canyon Country.

“We wanted to do something,” Coach Steve Neale of Hart said. “As a team, we know the sense of a loss.”

The Indians have had three swimmers die in the last eight seasons.

“Me and Tim, we were kind of the leaders of the team,” Sanden said. “It’s not the same.”

Not for the brothers’ parents, either.

“It’s very hard,” Alice Renolds said. “The worst part is, the house is just so quiet. Our kids were always very active and involved. I told the team, ‘I’m kind of lost with no reason to go to the meets anymore.’

“They’ve been very supportive, very sweet. Some people, when something like this happens, will withdraw and isolate themselves. But my husband and I have found that having the contact and staying involved with people helps us.”

Tom and Alice have attended the Cowboys’ last two meets, watching Canyon Swim for Tim.A large banner bearing the motto hangs at every meet.

“That’s really the focus of our team,” Coach Sally Nicholson of Canyon said. “I’ve seen kids grow up a lot in the last couple of months. They’ve learned to appreciate things more, they’re a little nicer to each other, and just more sensitive to each others’ needs.”

Canyon, which has only 15 swimmers, is 1-6, including 0-3 in league meets. The girls’ team, with 60 members, is 2-5, 1-2.

“It’s been a tough season,” Nicholson said. “We’re just looking to improve.”

The Renolds family, which also includes son Scott, 23, looks to keep the memories of the boys alive.

The Tim and Danny Renolds Memorial Scholarship, was started by the family to benefit a Canyon senior.

Another memorial, a high school athlete participating in the Santa Clarita Roller Hockey Center’s youth programs, will be honored each season with a spirit award in the brothers’ names. Tim and Danny played on teams at the facility.

“I wanted some things to remember them by,” Alice said. “You know, there’s a lot of hoopla going on right now. But a couple years from now, people are going to forget. And I don’t want to forget. I never want to forget.”

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Coach Lee Ann Myers Nelson of Birmingham, a former national-caliber youth swimmer in Alabama, is the wife of Jamie Nelson, a former Cal State Northridge baseball assistant who coaches in the Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ organization.

In 1975, Myers Nelson, clocked 24.14 seconds in the the 50-yard freestyle, a nation-leading time for 13- and 14-year-olds at the time.

She married Jamie four years ago after they met at the University of South Alabama in 1994. Lee Ann was working toward a master’s degree in recreation therapy and Jamie coached the Mobile BaySharks, an independent baseball team in the Texas-Louisiana League.

Lee Ann hasn’t seen Jamie lately. He has been out of town with the Devil Rays since spring training began. She looked forward to meeting up with him this week when her history classes at Birmingham let out for spring break.

In the meantime, she enjoys coaching the Patriots, whose boys’ team is 7-0, including 6-0 in the West Valley League.

“I wanted to make a living around the water,” Myers Nelson said. “I love it. It’s part of the air I breathe.”