San Marino’s Kailyn Koh has record-breaking day at Rio Hondo swim finals

PASADENA — When it comes to freestyles, San Marino High girls’ swimmer Kailyn Koh showed she’s the best the Rio Hondo League and her school has ever seen.

The senior grabbed a pair of league records in the 50- and 100-yard freestyles with respective times of 23.63 and 51.35 seconds at Friday’s Rio Hondo League Finals at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center. Both were also good for school and personal records.

Perhaps her most impressive performance was in the 100 freestyle, when she broke the longest-standing league record, set by San Marino’s Natalie Norberg in 1992 (52.84).

“I knew about the record,” Koh said. “My coach swam with the girl who had it, we were talking about it. I’d been faster than the record in club meets.”

La Canada’s Sarah Olson, Koh’s best friend, previously held the 50-free record after she set it last year (23.80).

“My nerves were just buzzing, I was so nervous, but it’s a personal best for me, so I was really excited with that and hopefully I’ll be faster at CIF,” Koh said.

Koh then helped the Titans’ 200-freestyle relay team of Alison Day, Eliza Koh, Tiffany Warmuth win in 1:38.48, shattering the previous record set last year by La Canada (1:41.76).

That same group also rewrote the 400-freestyle record even more impressively, improving on the mark by nearly five seconds with a time of 3:35.19.

Javier Lopez also had a historic day for the Titans boys. He set a new league record in the 100 butterfly in 49.95.

“I feel kind of tired, so I wasn’t sure if I was actually going to get it, but once I hit the water I just knew,” said Lopez, a sophomore. “Everything just went right, all my turns felt perfect.”

With two more league finals meets left in Lopez’ high school career, he hopes to improve on his record for years to come.

“I want to try and get it as low as I can, so I can make it unstoppable for a very long time,” he said.

South Pasadena’s Liza Echeverria and Isabel Edens went 1-2 in the 100 butterfly with respective times of 59.02 and 1:00.11.

Echeverria also won the 100 breaststroke in 1:08.71 and the Tigers’ Jocelyn Jo finished behind her (1:10.32).

“I’m hoping to get faster at CIF, but I was pretty proud,” Echeverria said. “My goal [for CIF] is mainly in breaststroke to break the high school record, which is a 1:06. I know it’s a lot of work to reach that record, but I am hoping to get that.”

South Pasadena was also well represented in the 500 freestyle. Warmuth won it in 5:01.45, but Sabrina Zavala was runner-up in a CIF Southern Section Division I automatic time (5:01.75) with Samantha Zavala (5:06.73) and Grace Wakabyashi (5:14.27) completing the top four for the Tigers.

South Pasadena’s Kate Iio, Echeverria, Samantha Zavala and Wakabayashi started the day with a win in the 200-medley relay (1:53.38).

Sabrina Zavala also won the 200 individual medley in 2:11.96.

Warmuth won two titles Friday, adding another in the 200 freestyle in an automatic CIF qualifying time of 1:52.53.

For the boys, the Titans’ Daniel and Samuel To, Lopez and Derek Yeh also won the 200-freestyle (1:28.59).

Daniel To also won the 100 backstroke in 51.47, just edging La Canada’s Garrett Chin (51.55). Samuel To took second in the butterfly (52.13) for San Marino, which also had Yeh finish runner-up in the 200 free (1:49.81).

San Marino’s 200-medley relay team of Daniel To, Nathan Tsai, Lopez and Samuel To earned an automatic CIF time with a runner-up finish (1:36.89).

South Pasadena’s best result came in the 400-freestyle relay when Garrett Tse, Pierce Deamer, William Jo and Andrew Wright finished second in 3:23.25.