Peirsol Impresses, Even Without Awards

Newport Harbor High’s Aaron Peirsol outdistanced the talent pool at the Southern Section Division I Swim Championships at Belmont Plaza Pool Friday.

The meet honors may have gone to others.

The Irvine boys won their first team championship, ending Mission Viejo’s six-year run, and the Vaquero girls’ team won its fifth consecutive title. Ventura Buena’s Ian Prichard, who broke the division record in the 500-yard freestyle, was named the boys’ swimmer of the meet.

But there was little doubt that Peirsol was the class of the meet.

Peirsol, a sophomore, set a Division I record in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1 minute 49.02 seconds. He also came within sight of the national record in the 100 backstroke. His time of 48.28 was less than a second off the record set by Woodbridge’s Derya Buyukuncu (47.50) in 1994.

“I train with Buko and he’s an animal,” said Peirsol, who swam the second-fastest 100 backstroke in Division I history. “That’s a good record for me to set my sights on. But 47.50 is pretty quick.”

But within range for Peirsol, who, after all, didn’t taper his training for this meet, as he is preparing for the Olympic trials. He is ranked second in the United States in the 200-meter backstroke and fourth in the 100 backstroke.

Still, he had no problems Friday. He held off Irvine’s Jeff Natalizio in the 200 IM, then buried the field in the 100 backstroke.

“I just felt really good tonight,” said Peirsol, who led Newport Harbor to a third-place finish. “Some meets are like that. I just got hyped up for the 200 IM.”

Natalizio also finished second to Peirsol in the 100 backstroke. So fast was the pace that Fountain Valley’s Brandon Dotts broke a school record that had stood for 24 years, yet finished seventh.

Dotts’ time of 52.68 broke Mike Kelly’s record (53.0), which was the fastest time in the nation in 1976.

Irvine’s depth, in both the boys’ and girls’ competition, was impossible to overcome.

The Vaquero boys’ team was the favorite coming into the meet, having qualified 11 swimmers for finals and consolation finals.

“We knew we were in good shape,” said Gonny Shimura, who won the 100 freestyle. “But we had our 200 relay team [disqualified] in the prelims, so we went in being careful. Anything can happen.”

Irvine’s Peter Schafer, who qualified with the second-fastest time in the 200 breaststroke, was disqualified at the start of the championship final. Such was the Vaqueros’ depth that they had Nick Yu finish fifth and Suruk Pattanasinth seventh in that race.

Mission Viejo, which has won 21 Division I titles, couldn’t match those numbers and finished second. Juan Veloz won the 100 butterfly and was the only Diablo to win an individual race.

In the girls’ competition, Irvine did not win a race, yet won the team championship. Newport Harbor was second, its highest finish ever, and San Clemente third.

Stephanie Hsiao set the tone. She had the third-fastest time in the 200 IM after the prelims, but finished second in Friday’s final. She repeated that in the 100 freestyle.

El Toro’s Kaitlin Sandeno and San Clemente’s Sarah Jones were named the co-swimmers of the meet.

Sandeno, who has nation’s second-fastest time in the 200-meter butterfly, is focusing on the Olympics and won’t start tapering her training until the end of July. Still, she came within .08 of the Division I record in the 100 butterfly Friday with a time of 54.63. She also won the 500 freestyle. Jones won the 50 and 100 freestyles.