Edison swimming sweeps Huntington Beach in final Wave League dual meet

With the Huntington Beach Union High School District on spring break this week, Tuesday’s Wave League swim meet between host Edison and Huntington Beach was missing swimmers on each side.

Edison’s boys kept right on rolling.

“The boys surprised me that they did that well,” Edison coach Matt Whimore said. “I think it was just depth. I think we can afford to miss more people.”

The Chargers girls didn’t do so poorly, either.

Edison swept the final meet before the Wave League finals next week. The boys beat Huntington Beach 111-59, while the girls were victorious 114-56.

Edison’s boys (6-1, 3-0 in league) finished an undefeated dual meet schedule in league by beating Huntington Beach (5-3, 2-1). The Chargers did have many of their top boys’ swimmers there.

Senior Taylor Whitmore is recovering from a hernia surgery in December, but he was still able to win the 100-yard butterfly in 55.94 seconds and the backstroke in 56.56. Whitmore, the defending Sunset League champion in both events, said he is getting close to full strength following the surgery.

“Starting out, my biggest obstacle was just getting out of the bed by myself,” Taylor Whitmore said. “It was a learning experience and kind of taught me how to push through stuff.”

Taylor Whitmore added that swimming against Huntington Beach is always a fun meet.

“I definitely felt that we swam the best that we could do, with some kids missing and going on spring break,” he said. “It was definitely a fun meet to end on, especially as a senior. [The Oilers] have always been a formidable adversary of ours in the Sunset League, so it’s always fun to race against them. I’d say in terms of knowing each other on a personal level, we have the most friends over there, so it’s always fun to compete against them.”

Marcus Dalija won the 200 individual medley (2:03.56) and the 100 breaststroke (1:02.98). Nathan Fernandez was another double-winner for the Chargers in the sprint freestyle races, taking the 50 free (23.08) and 100 free (50.20).

Huntington Beach’s 200 free relay team of Chase Dodd, Kyle Cross, Kaito Ham and Brenden Tran touched first in 1:33.08. But Tran was the only Oiler boy to capture an individual event, winning the 200 free in 1:55.67.

Edison’s girls’ team (4-2, 2-1) had several strong performers. Junior Emma Willmer, a transfer from Kansas, won the individual medley in 2:13.58 and also touched first in the breaststroke in 1:09.15.

“I was off my best [times], but right now I’m just trying to focus on the details and just get everything all ready for league and CIF coming up,” Willmer said.

Julianne Bennett won the backstroke in 1:04.39 and was second in the 500 free for Edison. Delaney Lewellyn won the 100 free (56.98) and was second in the backstroke.

The Huntington Beach girls fell to 3-5 overall and 2-1 in league. Coach Candice Mason said the Oilers were missing two of their top swimmers, Maddy Harris and Caitlin Richter, due to spring break.

Sophomore Summer West was a standout for Huntington Beach, winning the 200 free in 1:54.76 and the 500 free in 5:05.98. West also closed quick in the 200 free relay, as the Oilers’ quartet of Jemma Waters, Katelyn Mai, Olivia Lane and West touched first in 1:46.59.

“My 200 was actually really good,” West said. “At sectionals [in March] I went a 1:53, and then I went a 1:54 here in a really shallow pool. I was actually really surprised about that, because I usually don’t do as well in shallow pools.”

The Wave League preliminaries are April 23 and the finals are April 25, both at Golden West College.

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo