Girls Meet
Torrey Pines High School didn’t seem to suffer the loss of their three super seniors from 2013 (McKenna Garfein – Towson, Kelsey Kafka – USC, Ariel Jordan – Hawaii Manoa); they still had plenty of firepower left to win their sixth consecutive girls title at the 2014 CIF San Diego High School Swimming and Diving Championships.
Westview opened the meet with a 1:48.02 first-place finish in the 200 medley relay thanks to An Nguyen (28.04), Mackenzie Logan (30.17), Sandra Yang (27.29), and Valerie Hull (22.52). Carlsbad made it second to the wall in 1:49.03; La Costa Canyon was third with 1:49.67.
Westview senior and Auburn-commit Hull, won her third consecutive 200 free with 1:48.14, missing the D1 record by a scant .09. San Marcos sophomore Lindsay Ladman was second in 1:51.96; La Costa Canyon sophomore Savannah DuPuis (1:54.37) took third.
After two years as runner-up Amanda Sumrow of Patrick Henry won the 200 IM with 2:05.57. Coming in nearly together at second and third were Westview’s Nguyen (2:07.41) and senior Sherri McIntee of Carlsbad (2:07.64).
Torrey Pines had half the lanes in the “A” final of the 50 free and picked up gobs of points when senior Crystal Lore (24.14) and sophomore Pina Simone (24.49) went 1-2. El Camino sophomore Jordan Payne (24.59) took third.
Current Section and D1 record-holder, Rancho Bernardo sophomore Carly Doi, repeated as one-meter diving champion. This time she racked up 261.75 points, just shy of last year’s record-breaking performance. Granite Hills junior Danielle McCabe (212.45) was second; Helix Charter freshman Kara Justeson (202.55), third.
In the 100 fly El Camino’s Payne dropped nearly a second from her 2013 time and picked up her first individual win with a 56.00. Patrick Henry junior Sumrow (56.84) and Fallbrook sophomore Emma Thomas (57.70) came in second and third, respectively.
In addition to the 200 free, Westview’s Hull also won a third consecutive title in the 100, this time breaking the Section and D1 record with 49.69. Second and third went to Torrey Pines’ Lore (53.03) and Simone (53.78).
Ladman of San Marcos led the way in the 500 free, improving both her time and her second-place finish from 2013. This year she won in 5:01.68. An exciting battle played out for second, though, as La Costa Canyon sophomore DuPuis and Rancho Bernardo junior Colleen Anderson were locked in a stroke-for-stroke race throughout the final 200. Anderson covered the distance nearly a second faster, but it wasn’t enough to make up for DuPuis’s 8/10 lead at the 300. In the end it was DuPuis (5:04.11) with the silver, Anderson (5:04.20), the bronze.
Faster than their winning time last year but still a couple seconds away from the D1 record, Torrey Pines’ 200 free relay (Simone, 24.70; Anderson, 25.24; Katherine Lauerman, 24.61; and Lore, 24.21) repeated with 1:38.76. Fallbrook (1:40.02) and Carlsbad (1:43.36) rounded out the top three.
Julie Parsons of Otay Ranch distinguished herself in a tight top-three field in the 100 back, touching first in 58.45. Sophomore Samantha Morris of Rancho Bernardo picked up a second in 58.84, while Torrey Pines freshman Julee Keenan-Rivers got third with 59.10.
It was an all-senior podium in the 100 breast as Carlsbad’s McIntee (1:03.76) led Westview’s Logan (1:05.57) and San Marcos’s Jessica Parmenter (1:05.71) in the final individual event of their high school careers.
The La Costa Canyon 400 free relay kept a grip on their top-seeded position by successfully holding back a strong-charging Torrey Pines, 3:34.15 to 3:34.29, thanks to the foursome of Riley McDonald (53.00), Rachel Kulik (54.39), Michelle Jacob (54.00), and DuPuis (52.76). Westview finished third in 3:38.10.
Final Standings
1. Torrey Pines High School 214
2. Westview 179
3. Carlsbad High School 163
4. La Costa Canyon High School 128
5. Rancho Bernardo High School 111
6. Fallbrook High School 85
7. San Marcos High School 81
8. Granite Hills 69
9. El Camino High School 54
10. Patrick Henry High School 49
Boys Meet
Either Carlsbad enjoys the thrill of winning by just a few points (they won by six last year and seven this year), or the CIF-SDS Division I boys’ teams are evenly matched. It’s the latter, of course, and that makes for an exciting meet.
In 2013 Carlsbad finished 6 points ahead of El Camino, and Torrey Pines was third by only 2 points over Granite Hills. Furthermore, only 22 points separated first-place Carlsbad from fourth-place Granite Hills. That’s just one relay DQ. Talk about no margin for error.
This year, while Carlsbad beat Rancho Bernardo by just 7, the two put more distance between themselves and third- and fourth-place teams, Torrey Pines and La Costa Canyon.
La Costa Canyon got things rolling with a victory in the 200 medley relay, featuring Mitch Scarski (25.65), Ryan Clancy (26.78); Liam McCloskey (22.53), and Quinn Riccitelli (21.89). The three-juniors-and-a-senior (Riccitelli) quartet ended with a 1:36.85, well in front of Rancho Bernardo (1:39.60) and Eastlake (1:40.43).
In a reversal of 2013’s results, La Costa Canyon junior McCloskey beat Liam Semple of Rancho Bernardo to claim the 200 free title. Third place went to Torrey Pines senior Pearu Pold. Seniors Semple and Pold have committed to swim next year at Fordham and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, respectively.
Switching up his non-500-free event as he has every year, El Camino senior and future USC Trojan Scott Clausen took on the 200 IM in his final CIF. He won by a long shot, going 1:51.82. Carlsbad senior Thomas Linker, who will swim for Cal Poly SLO next year, edged San Marcos sophomore Joshua Parmenter for second place, 1:55.30 to 1:55.87.
Sophomore Tin Huynh of Rancho Bernardo, who won the consolation final as a freshman, was 8/10 faster this year and wound up winning the 50 free in 21.39. Torrey Pines junior Stephen Park finished second in 21.60; Eastlake senior Jimmy Jeffery took third with 22.06.
Westview senior Kevin Burnard topped off his high school career with his first CIF championship, winning one-meter diving with 237.10 points. Second place went to Granite Hills sophomore Andrew Tompkins (225.75); junior Rickey Stephens of Fallbrook was third (219.60).
McCloskey of La Costa Canyon got his second individual win, and broke a streak of seniors atop the 100 fly podium, when he won the butterfly event in 49.54. Rancho Bernardo senior Tanner Williams finished second with 51.68, while junior Carlos Narte of El Camino took third with 52.47.
Fallbrook junior Robert Guerra won the 100 free in clear water; he finished at 46.17 ahead of Torrey Pines’s Park (47.25) and Carlsbad senior Matt Biggs (48.38).
It was musical chairs in the 500 free this year as the same three juniors who placed in the top three in 2013 rotated their steps on the podium but remained at the top as seniors. So last year’s Semple – Pold – Clausen finish became Clausen (4:30.16) – Semple (4:32.79) – Pold (4:34.17), scoring points for El Camino, Rancho Bernardo, and Torrey Pines, respectively.
Granite Hills (Tyler Rhoades, 22.86; Kyle Sutton, 22.18; Jake Casey, 21.93; and Josh Kurtz, 21.45) won the 200 free relay with a combined 1:28.42. Torrey Pines eked out an exciting 1:29.16-to-1:29.26 second-place finish over Carlsbad thanks in part to Park’s 20.9 anchor split, the fastest leg in the entire final.
Fallbrook’s Guerra made it two for two with a 52.67 victory in the 100 back. He was followed by Scripps Ranch senior Anders Ohrstrom (53.39) and La Costa Canyon junior Scarski (53.84).
Eastlake senior and UC Santa Barbara commit John Randazzo dropped 2.4 seconds from his prelims swim and won the 100 breast by a second and a half, with 57.62. Trailing him were Carlsbad’s Linker (59.18) and La Costa Canyon junior Clancy (59.88).
The meet ended with another photo finish relay: Torrey Pines got the win with 3:13.16 (Daniel Ines, 49.09; Noah Ayers, 49.46; Pold, 47.71; and Park, 46.90). But right on their tails, and only .15 apart, were Carlsbad (3:14.13) and Rancho Bernardo (3:14.28).
Final Standings
1. Carlsbad High School 194
2. Rancho Bernardo High School 187
3. Torrey Pines High School 163
4. La Costa Canyon High School 151
5. Granite Hills 100
6. Fallbrook High School 91
7. El Camino High School 84
8. Eastlake High School 78
9. Westview 61
10. San Marcos High School 58
San Diego section, although a So Cal region, is much smaller geographically than the Southern Section (CIF-SS). Times historically significantly slower across the board in the San Diego section. IMO they should have combined these two sections a long time ago into one So Cal section.