CdM girls’ swimming finishes a strong fourth in CIF Division 1
Corona del Mar High senior Maggie Schalow is obviously going to a winning program now that her Sea Kings tenure is over.
Schalow is headed to swim at the University of Virginia, which just won its third straight NCAA national championship in March.
Schalow joins the Cavaliers, though, with quite a championship pedigree of her own the last three years. She proved it once again at her final high school dual meet, the combined CIF Southern Section Division 1 and 2 finals Friday at Riverside City College.
She won the girls’ 100-yard butterfly in Division 1, then followed that up with a second-place finish in the 500 freestyle.
Those swims and some very fast relays helped CdM earn a very solid fourth-place team finish on the girls’ side.
“We put a lot of effort into the program, and everyone showed up today,” Schalow said. “I think we’re all just really happy. It’s been a great four years.”
Schalow touched first in the girls’ 100 butterfly in 53.50 seconds. It was her first CIF Division 1 individual championship after two second-place finishes last year.
Schalow did win two individual events in Division 2 two years ago as a sophomore, helping CdM win the team title. Her performance Friday did not surprise CdM coach Kareem Captan.
“She’s going to get pushed today, and that’s when she is at her best,” Captan said prior to the meet.
Schalow closed strong in the 500 free, but her time of 4:50.26 was edged by Lily Dormans of Hart, who touched in 4:50.08.
She also teamed with Taylor Park, Nikki Lahey and Jillian Schlom to touch third in the 200 free relay in 1:34.90 — tying a school record that Schalow and Schlom had helped set two years ago. The same quartet placed third in the 400 free relay in 3:27.72.
“Obviously we wanted to break [the 200 free relay] record again, but it felt good to tie it, too,” Schlom said. “That means we still are really fast, with different people.”
Fountain Valley sophomore Kaitlyn Nguyen repeated as Division 1 champion in the girls’ breaststroke. She touched in 1:01.56, just six-hundredths of a second off her personal best from Wednesday’s preliminaries. Laguna Beach senior Jana Jocic (1:04.55) finished fifth.
“I think this year was a lot better than last year,” Nguyen said. “It’s just a lot of fun racing against the girls I always race with ... Obviously I was hoping for a [time] drop, but it’s OK. I’ll take it.”
Nguyen also placed second in the Division 1 girls’ 200 individual medley, in 2:00.14. The time was just eighth-hundredths of a second off Hannah Farrow’s school-record time of 2:00.06.
Among other local swimmers in championship finals, Newport Harbor sophomore Aidan Arie placed seventh in the Division 1 boys’ 500 free, in 4:32.33.
Sage Hill’s boys finished 10th as a team in Division 2, despite having a third-place finish in the 200 medley relay disqualified due to an entry error.
Sage Hill’s top individual boy at the meet was Ryan Chang, a senior bound for Chapman University. He placed fifth in the Division 2 butterfly in 50.31, and third in the backstroke. Coach Pavle Filipovic said that Chang’s time of 50.82 broke Jason Schreiber’s school record.
“I did really well at league, and I got a little bit tired for CIF prelims,” Chang said. “Today, I popped off ... I was going for that [record]. If we didn’t make state, this was probably my last high school meet, and I’m a backstroker. I really wanted to leave the school having my name up there.”
Sage Hill junior Brandon Lee took third in the Division 2 boys’ breaststroke in 56.73, and the Lightning’s 400 free relay team of Noah Joshi, Carson McNeill, Aaron Li and Chang finished third in a school-record 3:09.88.
Kudos also should be extended to Laguna Beach senior Mia Rommerswinkel, who competed in the first Division 1 mixed 50 free inclusive finals race. The “para-heat” was created this year by CIF Southern Section Section assistant commissioner Kristine Palle.
Rommerswinkel has Down syndrome, said her mother, Corinne, but that doesn’t slow her down. On Friday, she completed four years in the Laguna Beach swim program and she also was in the Breakers’ spring play, “Mamma Mia,” coach Kari Damato said.
“It was fun,” Mia Rommerswinkel said. “I didn’t like to swim at first, but I finally realized that I do like to swim.”
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