2015 CIF-SS Division II Preview – Newcomers Crean Lutheran and Laguna Beach Take Over

2015 California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Swimming & Diving Championships – Division II

• Diving: Results
• Swimming: Prelims – Friday, May 15, 2015; Finals – Saturday, May 16, 2015
• Location: Riverside City College
• Defending Champions: Glendora (girls), Los Osos (boys) – 2014 Results
• Live Results: Available
• Championship Central

Division II

No sooner has Crean Lutheran landed in their new, more competitive, division than they are swimming their way to the top. The loss of Lindsey Engel to graduation doesn’t seem to have impacted the Crean girls too much; their impressive depth reaches beyond the Eastin sisters and should be enough to keep them ahead of defending champion, Glendora.

Laguna Beach is another team that has moved up from Division III this year, and their boys look poised to edge defending champions, Los Osos, for the title. But it’s a very thin margin and it doesn’t take much –an extra “A” finalist here or there– to change the balance of power.

Here is what we get when we score out the psych sheet:

Races To Watch

Freestyle Events

Crean Lutheran is expected to score big in the sprint freestyles, which of course is doubly helpful insofar as that translates to dominant relays as well. Freshman Elise Garcia leads the charge for Crean with the number one 50 free qualifying time (23.65) and the number two 100 free (51.28). Junior Tianna Jorgenson is fifth seed in the 50 (24.16). Martin Luther King’s Claire Fisch is the only other girl entered with a sub-24 50 free (23.78).

Ayala junior Kenisha Liu is the top qualifier in both the 100 (50.75) and 200 free (1:48.89). In the 200 she will be joined by defending champion, Taylor Ault of Sonora (1:51.63), who won as a freshman last year with 1:48.56, a half-second off meet record time. Ault is the fastest qualifier in the 500 free (4:54.82), an event she won last year in 4:49.67, winning by nearly a half a pool length.

Arcadia sophomore Tenny Chong is not only the fastest entrant in the 50 free, but he is also the only sub-21 (20.76) and is .5 faster than the number two qualifiers, Eddie Gallehugh of Crescenta Valley (21.25) and Richie Campbell of Damien (21.25). The 100 free looks to be a much closer race, with Westlake senior David Puczkowski (46.39), Sonora sophomore Ben Blevins-Boor (46.40), and senior Michael Jones of Vista Murrieta (46.81) all bunched together;

Freshman Matt Hales of Laguna Hills (1:41.68/4:34.36) leads the field in the 200 free and is second in the 500. Simon Lamar, a freshman from Sonora, comes in with the fastest seed time in the 500, 4:33.66.

Backstroke

Emily Eastin of Crean Lutheran has the top entry time (53.79) in the girls’ 100 back by a large margin; the race for second should be close among Elena England of Westlake (57.37), Emily Chung of Peninsula (57.47), and Madison Frederick from Chaparral (57.66).

Westlake’s Puczkowski comes in with the top boys’ 100 back time (50.31), while defending champion and meet record-holder, senior Daniel McArthur of Lakewood (52.68), is seeded seventh. Arcadia’s Chong, who finished third last year, is seeded third.

Breaststroke

With the 200 IM and 100 breast, Ella Eastin is swimming the same events she won last year, setting D3 records along the way. This year she has the D2 marks in her sights. Eastin is the top qualifier with 1:02.96. Senior Lauren Wood of Caparral is second with 1:03.94.

Los Osos senior Brian Wittington has the number one seed time in the 100 breast, but not by much. It’s a crowded field, with Cameron Karkoska (58.31) and Max Morgan (58.40) of Laguna Beach, Greg Lee of Diamond Bar (58.44), Min Zhi Chua of Mission Viejo (58.46), and Jack Moyles of Redlands East Valley (58.83) all in contention.

Butterfly

Defending champion, sophomore Alexis Margett of Glendora, is seeded half a second faster than her winning time last year (53.90). Teammate Catherine Sanchez is second at 54.56, while Emily Eastin of Crean Lutheran comes in with 54.90 for the third-fastest time.

San Marino senior Javier Lopez is entered with the fastest time by a full second (49.29), while Crescenta Valley’s Edward Yi (50.25), South Pasadena’s Garrett Tse (50.72), Zhi Chua of Mission Viejo (50.75) and Trenton Julian of Glendale (50.83) are all vying for position as well. Also within range of the title is last year’s runner-up, Adrian Gutierrez of Murrieta Valley (50.89).

IM

Ella Eastin of Crean Lutheran is entered with 1:58.69, less than a second off the D2 record of 1:57.91. Mikki Thompson of Ayala (2:05.15) and Emily Longfellow of Redlands East Valley (2:05.69) will vie for second place.

Erik Juliusson of Laguna Beach (1:49.68), who won this event in last year’s D3 final, leads the field by 2.5 seconds. Other contenders include South Pasadena’s Tse (1:52.00), Glendale’s Julian (1:53.35), and Los Osos’ Whittington (1:54.69).