Vaqueros Are on a Mission to End Diablos’ Dominance

Few teams have dominated a high school sport as the Mission Viejo boys’ swim team has.

The Diablos won 14 consecutive Southern Section Division I titles from 1975-88. They took a respite, winning only one between 1989-93, but have claimed the last six.

Mission Viejo’s victory last May gave Mike Pelton 21 titles, the most by a coach in section history. Can anyone keep the Diablos from adding to that number?

Maybe. Irvine finished a distant second to Mission Viejo in 1999 and has closed the gap some.

The Vaqueros may not have Olympic hopefuls, international swimmers or the in-the-beginning tradition. They do, however, have the numbers. Whether that is enough to beat the Diablos Friday in the Division I finals at Long Beach’s Belmont Plaza Pool is to be seen.

The Division II and Division III finals will be held on Saturday.

“We do have more quality than we did last year, [and] the quantity is there,” Irvine Coach Ken Dory said. “It will truly be a huge team effort.”

The key will be getting enough bodies through Thursday’s prelims and into the championship and consolation finals, where they can score points.

That’s not to say the Vaqueros don’t have stars in the making. Gonny Shimura has Orange County’s fastest 100-yard freestyle time this year, 47.67. Jeff Natalizio finished third in the 200 individual medley a year ago. Those two, plus Jason Hwang, were vital to the relay teams.

But what has improved the Vaqueros’ chances are swimmers like Bomb Pattanasinth, who wasn’t a factor a year ago. Pattanasinth’s times have been among the Orange County top five in the 100 IM, 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke all season.

“He’s having an incredible year,” Dory said. “I think he’s going to be a big part of what happens to us on Friday.”

Others in the group Dory is counting on include Jesse Turi, Chris Peck and Nicholas Yu.

“We’ll meet to plan things out,” Dory said. “We’ll place the guys limited to one or two events first, then fill in the versatile guys where we need them. To be honest, they might not be in their best events, but they will be where they can help the team win.”

Mission Viejo will also try to fill the gaps around its best swimmers. The Diablos’ top four, though, can be counted on for big points.

Torwai Sethsothorn, Juan Veloz, Carlo Piccio and Scott Davison can dominate their events.

This hasn’t been the smoothest season for Pelton, who has been without his best and brightest at times because of national and international competitions. Sethsothorn, from Thailand, Veloz, from Mexico, and Piccio, from the Philippines, are likely headed for the Sydney Olympics. Davison, who is from Mission Viejo, had impressive showings in the junior and senior national meets in March.

The group has been together the past two weeks, and Friday they flexed their muscles, leading the Diablos to the championship in the South Coast League finals. In that meet, Veloz broke Dan Jorgensen’s school record in the 100 butterfly with a time of 50.49 seconds.

FOUR-PEAT

In the girls’ competition, seemingly the only thing that could keep Irvine from dominating is if the team bus breaks down on the way to the meet. The Vaqueros are loaded.

Stephanie Hsiao is the top returner in a deep and talented group. Hsiao won the 100 freestyle and was third in the 50 freestyle last year.

Lesley Christiansen, Sara Natalizio, Emi Umezawa, Ashley Gore, Sarah Hamilton and Lisa Sciarani should play key roles.

Laguna Hills, which won four consecutive Division II titles, and Newport Harbor, which has a solid core group, should place high in the meet. But, as it was in the Sea View League finals, those two probably don’t have the depth to stop the Vaqueros . . . barring four flat tires.

INDIVIDUAL EFFORTS

Not interested in the Irvine-Mission Viejo boys’ battle or the Irvine girls’ coronation? The individual talent will be worth a look.

Newport Harbor’s Aaron Peirsol, the defending Division I champion in the 100 backstroke, should pick up more first-place medals as he works toward a spot in the Olympics.

Ditto for El Toro’s Kaitlin Sandeno, who set the section record of 2 minutes 0.19 seconds in the 200 freestyle and won the 500 freestyle last year.

Newport Harbor’s Carly Geehr seems to have recovered from her shoulder injury. She set Division III records in the 200 IM (2:02.35) and 500 freestyle (4:46.51) last year swimming for Pasadena Mayfield.

Marina’s Kyoko Yokouchi is the defending Division I champion in the 100 backstroke.

San Clemente won the Division I 200 and 400 freestyle relays last year and has three of those swimmers back--Sarah Jones, Kristen Calverly and Stephanie Chambers. Jones, in the 50 freestyle, and Calverly, in the 100 breaststroke, should do well individually. Calverly broke Amy Shaw’s South Coast League record in the 200 IM with a time of 2:04.80 at the league finals Friday.

University’s Jessica Hayes won the 100 and 200 freestyles in Division II, just missing division records in both.

Tustin’s Mike Cavic narrowly missed the Division II record in the 100 butterfly.

Others, such as Newport Harbor’s Nicole Mackey in the 200 IM and Canyon’s Erin Volcan, in the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke, will be looking for titles to cap exceptional seasons.

TAKING A DIVE

The sure bet of the week? That Capistrano Valley’s Erica Sorgi, an Olympic hopeful, will win the girls’ Division I diving championship Wednesday at Heritage Park.

She won it as a freshman, took her sophomore year off, then came back and won again as a junior.

The Division II and Division III diving finals will also be Wednesday at Heritage Park.

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If you have an item or idea for the prep swimming report, you can fax us at (714) 966-5663 or e-mail us at chris.foster@latimes.com