Crescenta Valley Wins Title

The Crescenta Valley High girls’ swimming team won its first Southern Section title at the Division II championships Saturday at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

None of the Falcons finished any higher than fourth place in any individual event, but they placed in the top four in all three relays, collecting valuable points and finishing with a meet-high 198 overall to beat out second-place Peninsula (173) and third-place Alemany (154).

Alexis Sheridan picked up fourth-place finishes in the 200- and 500-yard freestyles and anchored the two freestyle relays to lead the Falcons, who finished second to Santa Margarita last year. Santa Margarita competed at the Division I level this season.

Crescenta Valley’s boys’ team, which won Division II titles the past three years, finished third this time. Damien scored 239 points to win, with Riverside Poly second with 183 and Crescenta Valley third at 181.

The Paso Robles boys’ and the La Serna girls’ teams each won their second consecutive Division III titles.

Justin Boyes had Paso Robles’ only individual title, winning the 200 individual medley in 1:52.09.

Michael Cavic set two Southern Section records and won three titles for Tustin, which finished fifth.

Cavic, who will compete for Yugoslavia in the World Championships in Japan in July, set records in the 100-yard butterfly and the 50 freestyle. The junior set his 50 freestyle mark while swimming the leadoff leg of the winning 200 freestyle relay. Cavic recorded a 20.21, just .04 seconds off the national record, topping Brian Jacobsen’s division record of 20.71, set in 1991.

In the butterfly, Cavic, clocked a 48.26, beating Randy Hartley’s time of 49.33 set in 1992.

On the girls’ side, La Serna, which won with 279 points, was led by Morgan Hentzen, who won the 200 freestyle (1:51.75), the 500 freestyle (4:56.35) and swam on the winning 200 and 400 freestyle relays.