Caverly Just Short of Record in Preliminaries

San Clemente teammates Kristen Caverly and Sarah Jones and Irvine freshman Diana MacManus flirted with meet records Wednesday at the Southern Section Division I swimming preliminaries at the Belmont Plaza.

Caverly missed breaking Amanda Beard’s 1996 record in the 100 breaststroke by .14 seconds with a time of 1:01.93. Caverly also won the 200 individual medley.

Jones cruised to victory in her heat of the 50 freestyle, turning in a time of 23.23, .16 seconds off the meet standard that has stood for 17 years.

Jones’ time of 51.49 in the 100 freestyle was the best mark of the day.

MacManus had the day’s best time in the 100 backstroke, 55.50, .24 shy of the meet record.

Chris Meyer of Canyon turned in the best time in the boys’ 200-yard freestyle. Olympian Aaron Peirsol of Newport Harbor qualified fifth.

Later, Peirsol appeared unnerved by a false start that resulted in the disqualification of Nolan Flavell of Santa Barbara in their heat of the 100 backstroke. Peirsol went on to win his heat with the best time of the day, 51.41.

Erin Volcan of Canyon had a time of 1:50.26 in the girls’ 200 freestyle. Brandon Dotts of Fountain Valley topped the list of qualifiers in the boys’ 50 freestyle. He also qualified fourth in the 100 backstroke.

Olympian Kaitlin Sandeno of El Toro High had the best time in the girls’ 100 butterfly (54.63).