SWIMMING

Southern Section Division I prelims--Senior Ian Prichard of Buena won the 500-yard freestyle and the 200 free at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

Prichard won the 500 free in 4:24.15, building a lead of nearly two laps midway through the event. He won the 200 free in 1:39.51.

Prichard advanced to the Division I championships today at 5 at Belmont Plaza.

Thousand Oaks senior Aron Gyuris will be top-seeded in the 50 free after winning the prelims in 21.88. He placed second to Mission Viejo’s Juan Veloz in the 100 butterfly in 52.44.

Other top qualifiers among boys included Ventura’s Mike Derse, who was third in the 100 breaststroke in 59.89.

In girls’ competition, Royal freshman Christine Creek finished tied for third with Irvine’s Sarah Hamilton in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.36) and claimed the eighth and last qualifying spot in the 200 individual medley (2:12.58).

Ventura junior Jana Richardson qualified fifth in the 200 free (1:52.62) and sixth in the 100 free (52.97), and teammate Grace Peterson was fifth in the 500 free (4:57.20) and eighth in the 100 breast (1:08.72).

Michigan-bound Taryn O’Leary of Westlake qualified third in the 50 free (24.62).

Division II prelims--Crescenta Valley’s boys’ team positioned itself for a run at a third consecutive section championship at Belmont Plaza.

The Falcons qualified at least one swimmer or relay team for preliminaries in 10 of 11 events, and every qualifier finished in the top eight to advance to Saturday’s finals.

The defending division champion in the 500, Taylor swam a top prelim time of 4:32.43, close to last year’s title-winning time of 4:31.64. He qualified third in the 200 free in 1:42.76.

Crescenta Valley’s James Jenkins qualified first in the 50-free in 21.14 seconds and was second in the 100 free in 47.20.

Alemany’s Maureen Farrell was the top girls’ qualifier from the region. She will be top-seeded in the girls’ 50 free (24.01) and the 100 backstroke (56.68) after winning both prelims.

Cami Kliner and Elizabeth Wong of Harvard-Westlake were the No. 8 qualifiers in the 200 individual medley (2:12.42) and the 100 free (54.44), respectively.