MacManus Is Real Team Player

Diana MacManus took a break last season from the intense training and elite competition that have occupied much of her adolescence. She chose to dedicate her precious after-school hours to her team at Irvine High, rather than the national powerhouse club to which she owed much of her success.

For MacManus, it was an easy decision, though difficult for some to understand, and it paid off at the Southern Section Division I finals last month, when she proved to herself, and to other high-level swimmers, that it’s possible to take a step back before taking two forward.

MacManus, who missed making the 2000 Olympic team in the 100-meter backstroke by two places, swam four personal-best times that night and set a Division I record in the 100-yard backstroke for the third consecutive season.

She was even more thrilled by her second-place finish in the 200 individual medley, an event she had never competed in at the high-school level until a month before the finals.

Add lifetime-best splits on Irvine’s 400 freestyle relay team that broke the national public high school record, and on the 200 medley relay team, which just missed breaking its national high school record, and there can be no doubt MacManus deserves to be chosen The Times’ girls’ swimmer of the year.

“[The season] all came together at once,” said MacManus, a junior. “It couldn’t have been any better.”

Her performance also reinforced her belief that the break from her club team, the Irvine Novaquatics, was a necessary measure, not a damaging one.

“My body told me I needed a break,” she said. “I’m not saying I was burned out, it was more like I mentally needed to get myself together.”

MacManus switched from gymnastics to swimming at age 10, and four years later was one of the youngest competitors at the 2000 spring nationals, where she placed eighth in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1 minute 3.45 seconds. Four months later at the Olympic trials, MacManus was in second place with 10 meters left in the 100 backstroke before finishing fourth.

She returned to the spring nationals as a high school freshman and sophomore, winning the backstroke events in 2002.

However, long before the start of her junior year, MacManus began making plans to take a break from club swimming this spring, which meant missing nationals for the first time in four years.

With a goal of qualifying for the 2004 Olympics, she was concerned that if she didn’t take a break this season, she might desperately need one during next year’s critical training phase.

At the section finals last month, MacManus posted some times that could be tough to match next season, whether she’s rested or not.

She won the backstroke in 54.19, a steady improvement over her division records as a freshman (54.69) and sophomore (54.42). She finished second in the individual medley in 2:03.66.

Her 50.72 split in the 400 freestyle relay was second in the event only to teammate Courtney Cashion, the three-time defending 100 freestyle champion, and MacManus’ backstroke split of 25.46 in the medley relay was 0.16 faster than the year before, when Irvine set the national high school record.

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THE TIMES’ ALL-STAR GIRLS’ SWIM TEAM

*--* SWIMMER OF THE YEAR Diana MacManus, Irvine FIRST TEAM 200 Medley Relay Irvine (Diana MacManus, Jr., Jane Hwang, So., Elliko Heimbach, So., Courtney Cashion, Jr.) Won the Division I title in 1:44.01, only 0.3 seconds off its year-old national high school record 200 Freestyle Hayley Peirsol, Newport Harbor Sr Trimmed three seconds off her preliminary time in winning the Division I title in 1:49.82 200 Individual Medley Nicole Mackey, Newport Harbor Sr Hawaii-bound senior won the Division I title in 2:01.59, two seconds faster than runner-up 50 Freestyle Courtney Cashion, Irvine Jr Broke Santa Ana Foothill Swim Games record and won her second consecutive Division I title in 23.13, an improvement of .09 over last season 100 Butterfly Ashley De Paul, Villa Park Sr Won the Division I title in 55.29 after finishing third last season in 55.98 100 Freestyle Courtney Cashion, Irvine Jr Set Foothill Games record and won the Division I title for the third consecutive season in 50.03 500 Freestyle Hayley Peirsol, Newport Harbor Sr Defeated fellow Auburn-bound senior and defending champion Adrienne Binder of San Marcos a week after breaking Sea View League record 200 Freestyle Relay Irvine (Miho Umezawa, Sr., Jane Hwang, So., Lisa Sciarani, Sr., Tanya Nielsen, Jr.) Won the Division I title in 1:40.09 100 Backstroke Diana MacManus, Irvine Jr Broke Foothill Swim Games record and set a Division I record for the third consecutive season while winning in 54.19 100 Breaststroke Nicolette Teo, Mission Viejo Jr Broke South Coast League record and was tops in Division I prelims and final by 0.3 seconds over Long Beach Wilson sophomore Jessica Hardy 400 Freestyle Relay Irvine (Courtney Cashion, Jr., Diana MacManus, Jr., Elliko Heimbach, So., Tanya Nielsen, Jr.) Set a national public high school record of 3:24.64 at Division I finals Diving Leanne Dumais, Buena Sr Beat defending champion Joey Brown of Dana Point Dana Hills to win the Division I title with a score of 556.70

SECOND TEAM 200 Medley Relay Villa Park (Jessica Cruzat, Jr., Angela Samuels, Jr., Ashley De Paul, Sr., Lindsey Bruner, Jr.) 200 Freestyle Adrienne Binder, San Marcos Sr 200 Individual Medley Diana MacManus, Irvine Jr 50 Freestyle Erika Figge, Santa Margarita Sr 100 Butterfly Nicole Mackey, Newport Harbor Sr 100 Freestyle Lisa Falzone, Santa Barbara Sr 500 Freestyle Adrienne Binder, San Marcos Sr 200 Freestyle Relay Santa Barbara (Lisa Falzone, Sr., Nicole Louie, So., Laura Borneman, Sr., Haley Wilson, So.) 100 Backstroke Lauren Mathewson, Anaheim Canyon Sr 100 Breaststroke Jessica Hardy, Long Beach Wilson So 400 Freestyle Relay Newport Harbor (Nicole Mackey, Sr., Mai Tajima, Sr., Anne Belden, So., Hayley Peirsol, Sr.) Diving Joey Brown, Dana Hills Sr

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