Irvine Boys on Top at Mission Viejo

In the typical swimming invitational, coaches can follow their teams’ progress throughout the event by keeping an eye on the team standings.

Not so at Saturday’s Mission Viejo Invitational. Coaches and fans were kept in the dark until 15 minutes after the meet was over. In the end it was worth the wait for the Irvine boys’ team, which came out on top at the Marguerite Aquatics Complex in Mission Viejo.

The Vaqueros finished with 449 points, Walnut Creek Las Lomas was second with 388 and Moraga Campolindo was third with 317.

Irvine Coach Ken Dory and his team thought the meet was closer and anxiously waited around, after most of the other teams had departed, to hear the outcome. A big cheer erupted from the Vaqueros when the announcement was made.

“This was a great meet for us,” Dory said. “We were down by 19 points after the preliminaries and we had to make up some ground. The guys did a great job.”

The Vaqueros, the county’s top-ranked team, were without two of their top swimmers, breaststroker Nate Puksta and freestyler Tyson Beamer, and Dory spread his personnel around to give his swimmers a chance to post Southern Section qualifying times in multiple events.

Gonny Shimura, the workhorse of the meet for the Vaqueros, was the only Irvine swimmer to win an individual event, taking the 100-yard butterfly in a season-best time of 51.92, trimming almost two seconds off his preliminary mark. Shimura also took second in the 100 backstroke (53.51) and anchored the 400 freestyle relay that finished second and the 200 freestyle relay that won in 1:29.18. It was the fastest time in the county this season for the foursome of Billy Swanson, Mike Shapiro, Phillip Kim and Shimura.

Despite a lack of individual winners, the Vaqueros piled up points by placing two or more swimmers in the finals of six individual events.

While the Irvine boys celebrated their victory, their female teammates were surprised to learn that they had lost. The top-ranked Vaqueros suffered their first defeat of the season, finishing second with 440 points. Campolindo won with 497, and Laguna Hills, ranked sixth in the county, was third with 218.

Campolindo gets the majority of its swimmers from the Orinda Aquatics Team, which won the Junior Nationals in 2000, and the team’s depth was too much for the Vaqueros.

“They are a very strong team,” Irvine Coach Scott Hinman said. “But I’m very happy with our performance. It’s good to know we can do so well on such a long day.”

The Vaqueros won four individual events and took two of three relays.

Diana MacManus posted a career best and the county’s top time in the 100 backstroke. She finished in 56.64, almost three seconds faster than the second-place finisher.

Sarah Hamilton and Campolindo’s Jillian Ochs touched the wall together after 50 yards in the 100 breaststroke, but Hamilton pulled ahead in the final 25 yards, winning in 1:07.36.

Stephanie Hsiao swam her season’s best in the 200 individual medley, winning in 2:06.95, only three seconds off her time in last year’s section finals.

Courtney Cashion won the 100 freestyle (52.85) and finished third in the 50 freestyle in 24.32, her best time this season. She also anchored the 200 medley relay and led off the 400 freestyle relay (3:35.04).

In the diving competition, Capistrano Valley’s Tiffany Manning defeated the Division I defending champion, Allison Brennan of Edison. Manning scored 579.30 in an 11-dive competition off the one-meter board. Brennan finished with 567.65. Laguna Hills’ Mike Hilde won the boys’ competition with 611.90 points. Louie Gagnet of Mission Viejo was second with 594.45.