Irvine Doesn’t Blink, Wins Again

The Irvine boys’ swim team adopted a slogan at the beginning of the season, and on Saturday at the Long Beach Millikan CIF Relays at Belmont Plaza, they put it to the test.

“Can’t faze us” adorns the team’s T-shirts, and is a motto Phillip Kim said the team lives by. The Vaqueros got a chance to prove it, after putting themselves in a hole by getting disqualified in the preliminaries of the 400-yard individual medley relay.

The Vaqueros, Orange County’s top-ranked team, still captured their fourth consecutive meet title with 228 points, outdistancing second-place Santa Margarita (174) and third-place Newhall Hart (152).

Despite the disqualification from the first event and the absence of Jason Hwang, who is academically ineligible, the Vaqueros won four of the seven events and took second in the 200 breaststroke and the 200 backstroke relays.

“We didn’t do as well as we expected,” Kim said. “There were races we thought we should have won, but didn’t. But we pulled through in the end.”

Kim’s performance in the 400 freestyle led the Vaqueros to the win in that event. Swimming the third leg, Kim trailed swimmers from Fountain Valley and Los Alamitos. But Kim swam his best split time of the season, 48.4, and gave teammate Gonny Shimura the lead in the final leg. The Vaqueros went on to win by more than three seconds, in 3:15.87. Fountain Valley was second in 3:18.89.

“I was concerned when we were behind,” Kim said. “But Gonny said all he needed was a little lead, so I did what I could for him.”

In the 200 medley, the final event, Irvine, already assured of the victory, posted its best time of the year, winning in 1:39.99. Suruk Pattanasinth led off in the backstroke and gave the Vaqueros a small edge over Santa Margarita, then Nate Puksta (breaststroke), Billy Swanson (butterfly) and Tyson Beamer (freestyle) held off the Eagles, who touched in 1:40.67.

Dana Hills was the only other county team to win an event, edging Irvine in the 200 breaststroke. Mike Mcerlean, Brian Pearson, Chris Smith and Scott Baer took three seconds off their preliminary time and finished in 1:55.39. Irvine was second in 1:56.31.

One of the meet’s surprises was Hart, which posted its best team finish in the meet. Hart won the 400 individual medley relay, and out-touched Irvine to win the 200 backstroke, the closest race of the night.

Irvine held a small edge after three legs, but Hart’s Mike Linn touched in 1:41.07. Pattanasinth hit for Irvine in 1:41.10.

“We always come down here to swim against the big boys in Orange County,” Hart Coach Steve Neale said. “I’m just delighted we did so well.”