Linn Can Simply Do It All

Mike Linn of Newhall Hart High had spectators cheering for a victory again Wednesday afternoon. However, this competition wasn’t in the swimming pool, where Linn was runner-up in the 50 and 100 freestyle events at the Southern Section Division II finals last season, but on a picnic table in the middle of campus.

Linn pinned Notre Dame-bound lineman Chris Frome in an arm-wrestling contest during pre-spring break school activities, unleashing a roar of excitement from his fellow students.

“It was a showdown,” said Steve Neale, Hart’s swimming coach.

It was also an example of Linn’s versatility as an athlete.

He earned All-American status in both freestyle sprint events at the section finals last season, then turned his attention to football, where he was an All-Foothill League defensive end for Hart, which won its fourth consecutive Division II section title last fall.

Linn, who is 6 feet 4 and nearly 200 pounds, has also excelled in sports ranging from wrestling to lacrosse but will settle on swimming once he graduates and moves on to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

So far this season, Linn has produced the second-fastest time in the region in the 50 freestyle, 22.06 seconds on Saturday during a triangular meet at L.A. Loyola High.

That’s a long way from his personal best of 20.93 achieved at the section finals in May, but Linn expects to better that time, as well as a few others, by the end of the season.

Two marks he’s aiming for are the winning times produced by James Jenkins of Crescenta Valley in the 50 and 100 freestyles at the Division II finals. Jenkins finished in 44.65 and 20.47 to win the events for the second consecutive season.

Then there are the division records of 20.27, set by Derya Buyukuncu of Irvine Woodbridge in 1994, and 44.28, set two years ago by Anthony Ervin, a former Hart teammate and 2000 Olympic gold medalist.

Now that Jenkins has graduated, Linn said it might take some extra self-discipline to satisfy those goals.

“We’ll see how it goes,” said Linn, who trains with the Canyons Aquatics swim club. “Who knows, there might be an up-and-coming star who has my name on his wall, just like I had [Jenkins’] name on my wall last season.”

Heard this before? Glendora Coach Janet Pollard wasn’t happy with the way the diving portion of an important Baseline League boys’ meet was scored Wednesday.

Upland outscored Glendora, 13-3, in the diving competition and went on to win the meet, 93.5-90.5.

Pollard, who scored the diving competition for Glendora, along with a judge from Upland and a nonpartisan official, said the scores from the Upland judge differed greatly from the other two.

“Their kids were doing cannon balls and getting fours [on a scale of 1 to 10],” Pollard said. “Our divers would do a good dive and get a two.”

High school dives are scored based on the judges’ total points, which are then divided by a predetermined number based on the degree of difficulty.

Pollard said Upland Coach Terry Kimberling pulled her aside after the meet and apologized.

“There was some weird judging going on, I’ll admit that,” said Kimberling. He said he offered to throw out the scores from Upland’s judge, but even that wouldn’t have changed the results.

“Their diving coach admitted that no matter how bad the judging was, [Upland] would have placed 1-2-3,” said Kimberling, adding he had no plans to change judges at future competitions.

“We’ve had five meets so far and that has not been a problem,” he said. “I’m going to have a talk with the [judge] though.”

Better than ever: Erin Volcan returned to the Anaheim Canyon swim team Wednesday and helped set a school record in the 200 freestyle relay in a Century League meet against visiting Villa Park.

Volcan, who placed second in the 200-meter backstroke last week at the U.S. Spring Nationals in Minneapolis, teamed with Sheva Khalafbeigi and sisters Lauren and Courtney Mathewson to win the event in 1:38.32, the fastest time in the region this season.

Volcan, who will swim for Auburn next season, also won the 100 breaststroke in 1:07.73. The Comanches won the meet, 92-78.

Dan Arritt