Spartans take big step
Erik Boal
SOUTH PASADENA -- George Akopyan knows there is still work to do
before the Rio Hondo League final May 2, but the La Canada High assistant
boys’ swim coach didn’t mind taking some time to celebrate Wednesday
night.
That’s because Akopyan, along with first-year Coach Sean Hulsey, saw
the Spartans’ one-year turnaround come full circle in their toughest
league dual meet to date on the road. After fielding just one full-time
swimmer last season -- resulting in a sixth-place finish in league -- La
Canada proved that it had enough depth to hold off defending league
champion South Pasadena, posting an 85-84 come-from-behind victory and
prompting Akopyan to express his feelings about the Spartans’ recent
transformation.
“We took back what was rightfully ours,” said Akopyan, who watched La
Canada (5-1, 5-0 in league) turn a seven-point deficit into a three-point
lead following a first-, second- and third-place sweep in the 100-yard
breaststroke.
“All we need to do now is beat Temple City [at home April 24], who
lost to South Pasadena and San Marino, and we should be in good shape for
the finals.”
As should the Spartans girls, who had no problems with a South
Pasadena team that lost CIF Southern Section Division II finalists Joanna
Baumgarten, Kim Wong and Pam Wong to graduation.
La Canada, which beat the Tigers by 21 points at last year’s league
final, had a much easier go of it Wednesday, winning 10 of 11 events en
route to a 114-53 victory.
Such a comfortable margin allowed Spartan girls’ Coach Jennifer Abbey
to turn her focus toward the boys’ 400 freestyle relay, as La Canada
needed to secure second- and third-place finishes to assure a victory
against the Tigers (5-1, 3-1).
Hulsey’s top quartet of Daniel Chi, Grant Chin, Cameron Curtis and
Eric Murphy took care of their part, finishing second in 3 minutes 28.69
seconds, but it wasn’t until Aaron Hayos held off South Pasadena’s Wes
Whitworth for third place that the win became official.
“We’re still learning as we go, but we’ve definitely got the team to
[win league],” said Hulsey, who had eight potential points taken away
from his team’s score in the meet’s first event, the 200 medley relay,
because of a disqualification.
“The breaststrokers came through huge for us. We were expecting one
and two [with Chin and Tomas Mikuckis], but we pulled one, two and three
[with Nicolas Ortiz taking third] with some really good times.”
Chi was a double winner for La Canada in the 200 and 500 freestyle, as
was Matt Yang in the 50 and 100 freestyle, and Curtis in the 200
individual medley and 100 backstroke.
Curtis and Chin -- who won the 100 breaststroke in 1:05.94 -- were
both hand-timed at 2:06.44 in the 200 individual medley, but the official
ruled that Curtis outtouched his teammate.
On the girls’ side, freshman Maryann Boosalis continued to impress,
clocking Division II automatic marks of 53.5 in the 100 freestyle and
1:07.41 in the 100 breaststroke. Senior Kristen Lee was also a double
winner in the 100 butterfly and 500 freestyle.
The Tigers (4-2, 2-2) captured the 200 freestyle relay, but the
Spartans (5-1, 5-0) -- who also received victories from Caitlyn Chacon,
Courtney Lee, Renee Nicholas and Jennifer Wetzel -- took the 200 medley
and 400 freestyle relays in convincing fashion.
SWIM RESULTS
o7 Results of Wednesday’s Rio Hondo League dual meet between La
Canada and South Pasadena. Individual scoring on a 6-4-3-2-1 basis. Relay
scoring on an 8-4-2 basis.
f7 GIRLS’ VARSITY
La Canada 114, South Pasadena 53
200-YARD MEDLEY RELAY
1. La Canada (C. Lee, Boosalis, K. Lee, Nicholas) 1:59. 2. South
Pasadena (Zhang, Ho, Takase, Kwan) 2:08.06. 3. La Canada (Myers, Wetzel,
Chacon, J. Lee) 2:11.88.
200 FREESTYLE
1. Chacon (LC) 2:11.09. 2. Tilem (LC) 2:22.43. 3. Myers (LC) 2:24.0.
200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
1. Wetzel (LC) 2:23.16. 2. Min (LC) 2:28.59. 3. Takase (SP) 2:34.15.
50 FREESTYLE
1. Nicholas (LC) 26.44. 2. Kwan (SP) 26.27. 3. Cho (LC) 27.37.
100 BUTTERFLY
1. K. Lee (LC) 1:07.84. 2. Yue (LC) 1:08.37. 3. Ho (SP) 1:10.28.
100 FREESTYLE
1. Boosalis (LC) 53.5. 2. Nicholas (LC) 56.94. 3. Kwan (SP) 1:00.75.
500 FREESTYLE
1. K. Lee (LC) 6:16.62. 2. Schultz (LC) 6:49.97. 3. Jeong (SP)
7:01.22.
200 FREESTYLE RELAY
1. South Pasadena (Ho, Takase, Chiang, DeVos) 1:53.1. 2. La Canada
(Tilem, Min, C. Lee, Cho) 1:56.0. 3. La Canada (Murphy, J. Lee, Chacon,
K. Lee) 1:56.69.
100 BACKSTROKE
1. C. Lee (LC) 1:07.65. 2. Zhang (SP) 1:10.35. 3. S. Lee (SP) 1:18.81.
100 BREASTSTROKE
1. Boosalis (LC) 1:07.41. 2. Wetzel (LC) 1:17.25. 3. Ho (SP) 1:20.0.
400 FREESTYLE RELAY
1. La Canada (C. Lee, Min, Nicholas, Boosalis) 4:02.37. 2. La Canada
(Yue, Murphy, Wetzel, Cho) 4:23.06. 3. South Pasadena (S. Lee, Reid,
Anderson, Chiang) 4:34.81.
BOYS’ VARSITY
La Canada 85, South Pasadena 84
200-YARD MEDLEY RELAY
1. South Pasadena (M. Lee, Loo, Miller, Banks) 1:53.88. 2. La Canada
(Thielen, Mikuckis, Chi, Blatchley) 1:56.72. 3. South Pasadena (Chang,
Doo, Chung, Cunningham) 2:05.09.
200 FREESTYLE
1. Chi (LC) 1:52.41. 2. M. Lee (SP) 1:52.84. 3. Banks (SP) 2:00.72.
200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
1. Curtis (LC) 2:06.44. 2. Chin (LC) 2:06.44. 3. Leung (SP) 2:12.63.
50 FREESTYLE
1. Yang (LC) 22.35. 2. Baumgarten (SP) 23.5. 3. Blatchley (LC) 24.06.
100 BUTTERFLY
1. Medina (SP) 59.5. 2. Blanton (LC) 1:01.47. 3. Miller (SP) 1:03.81.
100 FREESTYLE
1. Yang (LC) 51.9. 2. Baumgarten (SP) 52.37. 3. Medina (SP) 53.88.
500 FREESTYLE
1. Chi (LC) 5:06.18. 2. Banks (SP) 5:32.88. 3. Whitworth (SP) 5:44.47.
200 FREESTYLE RELAY
1. South Pasadena (Leung, Baumgarten, Medina, Banks) 1:35.99. 2. La
Canada (Thielen, Blanton, Blatchley, Yang) 1:39.66. 3. South Pasadena
(Cunningham, Chang, Loo, Whitworth) 1:44.97.
100 BACKSTROKE
1. Curtis (LC) 59.31. 2. M. Lee (SP) 1:01.63. 3. Miller (SP) 1:01.9.
100 BREASTSTROKE
1. Chin (LC) 1:05.94. 2. Mikuckis (LC) 1:09.75. 3. Ortiz (LC) 1:09.87.
400 FREESTYLE RELAY
1. South Pasadena (Leung, M. Lee, Medina, Baumgarten) 3:27.15. 2. La
Canada (Curtis, Murphy, Chi, Chin) 3:28.69. 3. La Canada (Simmons,
Thielen, Chew, Hayos) 3:48.84.