She’s Got a Good Grip on Success in the Pool

Erin Volcan didn’t spend much time checking out the competition during the second half of the 200-yard freestyle Friday during the Southern Section Division I girls’ swimming finals at Long Beach Belmont Plaza.

The Anaheim Canyon High senior took one look around with 75 yards to go and knew she was on the way to her third consecutive title in the event.

Volcan finished in a personal-best time of 1 minute 48.71 seconds, paving the way for a memorable end to her high school career. She also anchored Canyon’s 200 freestyle relay team to a first-place finish in 1:36.73, only .02 of a second off the division record.

She finished second in the 100 backstroke with a personal-best time of 54.44, only .02 of a second behind Irvine’s Diana MacManus and also under the division record of 54.69.

Volcan capped her evening by helping the Comanches to a second-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay (3:31.23), allowing Canyon to take third in the team standings, the best finish in school history.

Volcan went out fast in the 200 free, swimming the first 100 yards in 53.46, just ahead of Adrienne Binder of Santa Barbara San Marcos (53.69). When Volcan made her next turn 50 yards later, she knew she was in good shape.

“Lots of times I go out fast and die at the end,” she said. “I knew with 75 yards to go I wasn’t going to die. I started telling myself, ‘I have this.’”

The only other girl to win three 200 free titles in the top division is Rebecca Gilman of Ventura Buena, who did it from 1994-96.

Volcan looked strong in the preliminaries on Wednesday. She had the top qualifying time of 1:50.29 in the 200 free, which came as somewhat of a surprise to her as she has struggled with her form all season.

“I lost my feel for the water [in the 200 freestyle this season],” she said afterward. “I felt a little sloppy.”

Volcan hit the water full speed this season and never let up. After finishing second in the 200-meter backstroke at the U.S. Spring Nationals in Minneapolis, she anchored three Canyon relay teams to meet records at the Southern Section Relays last month.

She followed sisters Lauren and Courtney Mathewsons and Sheva Khalafbeigi with a 56.0 free split to win the 400 medley relay in 4:00.10, breaking a 19-year meet record by .06.

Lara Pease and Michelle Anderson joined the foursome to set a meet record of 2:29.82 in the 300 free relay, then Volcan teamed with Pease and the Mathewsons to set a record of 1:46.61 in the 200 backstroke relay.

There was never any doubt Volcan had a bright future at Canyon. In her first week as a freshman, she broke the school record in the 200 free (1:55.3). That summer, she won the junior national championships in the 200-meter free.

Volcan has dual citizenship in Venezuela because her father, Jorge, was born there and moved with his family to the United States as a teenager.

She was a member of the Venezuelan National Team from 1997-2001, won the 200-meter backstroke at the South American Championships in Argentina in 2000 and is the country’s national record-holder in the event.

Volcan began competing at the Central American Games in 1998 with the hopes of becoming the first woman to represent Venezula in swimming in the Olympics at the Sydney Games, but she came up nearly four seconds short of the qualifying standard in the backstroke.

In November, she signed with Auburn, whose coaches, she said, plan to develop her versatility by having her train with the backstrokers, middle freestylers and individual medalists.