Granada Hills Tops Synchronized Teams

A Granada Hills team edged the Fernangeles senior girls synchronized swimming team Sunday in the Amateur Athletic Federation’s Southern California championships in Los Angeles.

Santa Clarita teams placed third and fourth in the competition at Los Angeles Swim Stadium.

In the championship round, judges awarded Granada Hills 54 points for its routine performed to the Olympic Games theme. Fernangeles of Sun Valley, which performed to music from Walt Disney’s “Dinosaur,” earned 52 points.

The Santa Clarita teams earned 39 points and 36 points.

“We did our best. We were excited that we made it that far,” said Brenda Erazo, Fernangeles’ coach and choreographer. “We are second in Southern California, so that’s great.”

Fernangeles team member Jennifer Leuning, 14, of Sun Valley said: “We performed to the best of our ability. Our coach told us to do our best and have fun, and that’s what we did.”

Jennifer’s sister, Heather, 17, said teamwork was more important that winning a gold medal.

“We were together as a team, emotionally, physically and in every other way,” she said. “Even though we didn’t win first, it wasn’t that big of a disappointment because we came so far as a team.”