A Painful Day for Valencia

There were winners and losers Saturday at the Southern Section Division II swimming finals, and one who drifted somewhere in between.

Placentia Valencia senior Andy Harutunian proved to be the division’s fastest swimmer at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach, winning the 50 and 100 freestyles and anchoring the winning 200 medley relay. But Harutunian learned midway through the meet that he was disqualified for competing in too many events.

Harutunian had swam his maximum four events in Friday’s preliminaries -- the freestyle sprints and freestyle relays -- which meant he had to maintain the same schedule in the finals, since the prelims and finals are considered the same meet.

But when Harutunian swam on the meet-opening medley relay, it counted as a fifth event. When it was later brought to the attention of meet officials by another coach, the Tigers were disqualified in the medley relay and Harutunian was disqualified in his freestyle victories. With Harutunian no longer eligible, Valencia chose to disqualify itself from the final event, the 400 freestyle relay.

“I assumed it was OK to switch relays,” said Valencia girls’ Coach Sean Sheblin, who came up with the plan. “I read the rule book [before the meet] and didn’t find anything that said we couldn’t do it. I feel really bad.”

The Tigers lost 80 points for the three victories that were nullified, plus the 30 points they could have earned as the fourth-fastest qualifier in the 400 freestyle. The Tigers finished ninth, 74 points behind third-place Irvine Northwood.

Riverside Poly’s Jason Lyons won the 200 freestyle in 1 minute 40.60 seconds, anchored the winning 400 freestyle relay (3:10.91) and moved to first in the 100 freestyle after Harutunian’s disqualification to help the Bears win the team title with 211.50 points. Irvine University was second with 210.

Upland won the girls’ title with 258 points and Corona del Mar was second with 201.

The top girls’ performer was UCLA-bound senior Katie Nelson of Rolling Hills Estates Peninsula, who won the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyles. She moved from third to first in the second half of the 200 freestyle to win in 1:50.26, then pulled away in the second half of the 500 freestyle to defeat defending champion Jane Imagane of Fullerton Troy.

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While Yucaipa was setting all the records at the Southern Section Division III girls’ swimming final, Ridgecrest Burroughs was piling up the points.

Burroughs didn’t win any events, but the Burros finished with 252 points at the Belmont Plaza Pool and clinched the school’s first section title in girls’ athletics. Yucaipa was second with 243 points.

The Burros clinched the title with a third-place finish in the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay. Yucaipa broke a year-old division record in winning the event in 3:35.18 seconds. The Thunderbirds also broke their two-year-old meet record by over two seconds by opening the meet with a victory in the 200 medley relay in 1:49.09. Emily Harlan opened the medley relay and swam last on the freestyle relay and also won the 50 and 100 freestyle for Yucaipa.

Murrieta Valley won the boys’ title with 244 points. Claremont Webb was second and last season’s Division IV champion, Cerritos, was third with 212.

Sean Boyle, a sophomore at Murrieta Valley, was the top performer in the boys’ competition. He won the 200 freestyle in 1:41.98 and 100 butterfly in 52.09 and clinched the victory by anchoring the winning 400 freestyle relay (3:16.91).