Flintridge Prep’s youth shines in league contest
PASADENA — A bright future was on display for the Flintridge Prep swimming teams as the Rebels boys and girls competed in the Prep League Swimming and Diving League Championships at Pasadena City College on Saturday.
Freshman Marco Flores and sophomore Bruce Park delivered the only first-place finishes for the Rebels. Flores came out on top of the 500-yard freestyle in 5 minutes .18 seconds, which also earned him a CIF consideration time. Park’s time of 56.99 in the 100 butterfly was also good for first.
The Flintridge Prep boys’ and girls’ teams took second and sixth place overall in the Prep League meet, respectively. The boys racked up 289 points, 21 points behind Chadwick (310). The girls collected 129 points for sixth place, 175 points off first-place Mayfield (304), as Jennifer Langen, another freshman, led the squad.
Ryan Goto, one of the Rebels’ coaches, said Flores and Park came into the meet fired up and once the pair got in the water they made it count. Park dominated the 100 butterfly but missed getting his CIF consideration time by .99 of a second.
“I wanted to get the CIF cut, I’ll still make it next year, but it was still exciting and I’m pretty happy about the results,” Park said.
“[The 100 butterfly] is totally his event — he’s been our star for that all season,” said Riley Marmesh, Flintridge Prep’s other coach. “I knew he was a shoe-in for that event.”
As a freshman, Flores didn’t know what to expect from the league meet. All he knew was that he had to get his CIF consideration time in the 500 freestyle after consistently being less than a second off.
“Marco’s personal-best time before this was just at the CIF consideration time so we knew he had to swim above that and that’s what he did,” Marmesh said.
Once Flores hit the wall and finished the 500 free, he knew he’d done something good.
“I felt great — dead but great,” he said.
Park and Flores teamed up with Kevin Cheng and Ethan Vandeventer to take second in the 400-freestyle relay (3:36.87). Park and Cheng combined with Marco Sivilotti and Jacob Steenwyk to repeat as second-place finishers in the 200-freestyle relay (1:35.30).
Matty Gallas and Sivilotti also took second in their respective individual events for Prep. Gallas swam the 100 backstroke in 1:00.43 and Sivilotti took the 50 freestyle in 22.87.
Langen took second in the 500 free (5:40.96), as her teammate Suzanna Tan was a few seconds behind for third place (5:50.87). Tan took second in the 200-individual medley (2:22.26).
Langen’s 500 freestyle preliminary time of 5:33.83 was good enough for CIF consideration. She also got third place and her CIF consideration time in the 100 butterfly (1:01.83).
“Jennifer just has great form overall, she’s been swimming for a while now,” Goto said.