Laguna goes big at CIF

Members of the Laguna Beach High girls’ swim team turned in outstanding performances at the CIF-Southern Section Division II finals meet Saturday and the all-divisions CIF-Masters Meet on Tuesday.

At the girls’ Division II finals meet held Saturday at Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach, sophomores Annika Dries, Taylor Dodson, Natasha Schulmann and Chelsea Wild, qualified for finals in the 200-free and 400-free relays. In the 200-free relay, the Breakers foursome was seeded 20th but came on strong and swam to a sixth-place finish. The team’s time of 1:41.99 not only was a personal best, but a school record, as well.

The foursome also finished in fifth place (3:41.26) in the 400-free relay.

Wild and Dries each also placed in two individual events. Wild swam a personal-best 1:53.71 and placed seventh in the 200-free, and also was seventh (5:00.74) in the 500-free. Dries placed eighth in the 100-free with a personal-best swim of 54.59.

At Tuesday’s CIF Masters Meet, also held at Belmont Plaza Pool, Wild finished in 13th place in the 200-free (1:53.92) and was 11th in the 500-free (4:59.05). Her time in the 500-free was a new school record.

New school records also were set at the Masters Meet by the 200-free and 400-free relay teams.

The 200-free relay team of Dries, Dodson, Schulmann and Wild, swam a 1:40.96, good for 11th place in an event the Breakers were seeded 22nd, Coach Chad Beeler said.

The 400-free relay team, which began with Wild swimming the first 100-yard stretch, finished 14th with a time of 3:40.41. Beeler said the Breakers entered the event seeded 23rd.

Wild also established a new school record in the 100 during the 400-free relay, Beeler said.

“We’re really pleased with how the girls did,” Beeler said of he and co-coaches Ethan Damato and Chad Carvin. “The girls’ set 14 school records this year.”

In CIF track and fieldA long Saturday in Carpinteria turned out to be time well-spent for the Laguna Beach High track and field program.

Seven athletes qualified in individual events, and two relay teams also qualified by coming up with big performances at the Southern Section Division IV prelims at Carpinteria High to earn a spot at Saturday’s division finals at Cerritos College in Norwalk.

In the girls’ prelims, Brittany Clark ran to a second-place finish in the 100-meters with a time of 12:55. Alex Crawley was a double-qualifier, as she placed seventh in the 1,600 (5:19) and fourth in the 3,200 (11:28). Also qualifying in the 3,200 was Camille Borges who finished eighth (11:43).

In the boys’ prelims, E.J. Gomez qualified for finals after finishing sixth (22.63) in the 200 and seventh (51.62) in the 400, Jonathon Martinez was a place in front of Gomez in the 400 and finished sixth (51.52), Sheldon Eaton was eighth (16.07) in the 110 hurdles and third (40.49) in the 300 hurdles, Nick Newell placed ninth (41-feet-7) in the triple jump, the 4-by-100 relay team was eighth (44.73) and the 4-by-400 relay team finished in fourth place (3:29.69).

Each event had 30 competitors. The top nine finishers in each event advanced to Saturday’s finals.

“Of course last year we qualified more boys than this year and contended closely for a boys’ CIF title, ultimately just falling short and finishing second as a team,” said Coach Dave Brobeck, who added the Breakers survived a 15-hour day Saturday. “Given who we have advancing and the quality of our competition, it is my hope this year to finish somewhere in the top five to seven teams. I think this would really cap the season on a high note.

“I especially want to see our dedicated seniors, Brittany Clark, Alex Crawley, Jonathon Martinez, E.J. Gomez, and Nick Newell, have their best performances of their lives. These are kids you want to root for. My guess is that all of them will be competing next year in college.”

In CIF tennisLaguna, the No. 2 team out of the Orange Coast League, had its season ended Saturday by Los Padres League champion Santa Ynez which scored a 13-5 victory over the Breakers in the second-round of the Division IV playoffs.

Laguna had opened postseason play on May 10 with a 13-5 win over San Gabriel Valley League champion Gahr.