Tustin’s Cavic Completes Record-Setting Plan

Michael Cavic’s plans for his two events in the finals of the Foothill Swim Games Saturday were simple. Win the events, and maybe grab a record in the process.

Cavic, a junior at Tustin, did that, winning the 100-yard butterfly in 48.87 seconds and the 100 backstroke in 50.88. Cavic’s time in the 100 butterfly eclipsed by almost one second the meet record set by Santa Margarita’s Philippe Demers in 1998.

“I haven’t been working out that hard for the last two weeks,” Cavic said. “I took a week off from swimming. But I still wanted to do well here. And I wanted to go for the record.”

When Cavic finished his race in the butterfly, he looked twice at the time, which was two seconds faster than his preliminary time on Friday.

“I wasn’t expecting to go quite that fast,” he said. “I was thinking, ‘If I could get a 49 I’d be happy.’ ”

Cavic, who competed for Yugoslavia in the 2000 Olympics, was named the male swimmer of the meet.

His time in the 100 backstroke was also impressive, just .12 seconds off the meet record set by U.S. Olympian Aaron Peirsol, the Newport Harbor swimmer who set his mark two years ago as a freshman.

Saturday’s meet was without some of the county’s top swimmers, including Peirsol, El Toro’s Kaitlin Sandeno, Diana MacManus of Irvine, San Clemente’s Kristen Caverly and Erin Seiper of Esperanza, who were competing at the U.S. National Championships in Austin, Texas. But there still were top performances from swimmers like Cavic and Erin Volcan of Canyon.

Volcan, who was named the female swimmer of the meet, won the 100 freestyle (51.95) and the 100 backstroke (57.09).

“It’s been a long time since I’ve swam the 100 free,” said Volcan, who came into the final with the top qualifying time. “But I knew the race would be hard with Courtney [Cashion] next to me. When I made my final turn, I saw her right there with me.”

Cashion, am Irvine freshman who had earlier won the 200 freestyle (1:54.26), finished second in 52.22.

Newport Harbor junior Carly Geehr was a double winner in the 200 individual medley (2:04.61) and the 500 freestyle (5:00.76).

Foothill’s Ashlee Henson won the 50 freestyle in 24.74. Henson also led off for the Knights’ 200 freestyle relay team, which, with Henson, Gabbie Domanic, Jillian Kraus and Kaitlyn Card, set a meet record (1:39.56), breaking San Clemente’s 1999 mark by .14.

Flora Kong and Sarah Hamilton won events for Irvine, with Kong taking the 100 butterfly in 57.22 and Hamilton the 100 breaststroke in a county-best time of 1:06.88.

Irvine girls also won the 200 medley relay (Ashley Gore, Hamilton, Kong, Tanya Nielsen) in 1:50.55 and the 400 freestyle relay (Kong, Nielsen, Miho Umezawa, Cashion) in 3:35.91.

In another boys’ event, Phillip Kim of Irvine won in a thrilling finish in the 200 individual medley.

Brandon Dotts of Fountain Valley, who was the event’s top qualifier, built a lead during the first two legs--backstroke and butterfly--but Kim came back to take a slight lead after the breaststroke leg. Kim then held off Dotts in the freestyle to finish in 1:57.36.

Kim, who had to pull out of the 500 freestyle because of a back injury, said he was swimming on adrenaline.

“I was hurting, but I put it behind me,” Kim said. “I wanted to beat him really bad. And that time is real close to my best time ever.”

Irvine’s Gonny Shimura won the 100 freestyle (48.17) and teammate Nick Yu won the 100 breaststroke (1:00.33).

Capistrano Valley’s Andrew Burbach won the 200 freestyle in 1:47.55 and Andrew Burbach won the 500 free in 4:41.42.

Irvine swept all three boys’ relays. Suruk Pattanasinth, Yu, Billy Swanson and Tyson Beamer won the 200 medley relay (1:50.55). Swanson, Michael Shapiro, Beamer and Shimura won the 200 freestyle relay (1:29.65) and Kevin Sciarani, Pattanasinth, Gerald Kim and Shimura won the 400 free relay (3:20.34).

In team scoring, Irvine won both the girls’ and boys’ events. The boys took their fourth title with 280 points. Capistrano Valley took second at 134 and Fountain Valley was third with 121.5. The Irvine girls won their sixth consecutive meet title, scoring 246 points. Foothill was second at 169 and Canyon third with 134.