Boys and girls swimming: Sailors Grab ‘Ol Mo

Steve Virgen

LAGUNA HILLS - This one was the calm before the storm and the

prelude to the main event. This one, the Sea View League swim matchup

between Newport Harbor High and host Laguna Hills, also turned out to be

great momentum for the Sailors’ boys and girls as the they head into

their duel with defending league champion Irvine Friday.

The Newport Harbor boys (2-0 in league), who received sparkling

performances from Ryan Lean, Andrew Cole and Ross Sinclair, cruised to a

97-71 win.

And, Sailor Coach Ken LaMont’s girls squad (3-2, 2-0), which featured

successful comeback appearances from Nicole Mackey and Hayley Peirsol,

kept it close, then won the last four events to grab an 89-81 victory.

So now Friday, when Newport hosts Irvine, will be the time for the

Sailors to try to use their momentum to slay the giant.

“(The Vaqueros) have been dominant, but they’re beatable this year,”

said Newport boys coach Jason Lynch. “It’s still going to be close, but

with Aaron (Peirsol) swimming, he gives us a real advantage.”

Aaron Peirsol, who broke the world record in the 200-meter backstroke

March 20, told his coach Wednesday he wanted to swim against Laguna

Hills. Peirsol, who broke the world short course record in the 200 back

Sunday in Moscow, also told Lynch he will compete in the preliminaries of

the CIF Relays today at Belmont Plaza, as well as in the Sea View League

meet against Irvine.

“(Aaron Peirsol) came over into my (class)room,” Lynch said.

“Obviously, I congratulated him. He just wanted to know what was going

on, so I went over the schedule with him. He was ready to swim

(Wednesday). But, I told him we didn’t need him to win.

They didn’t get back till late Monday night. I figured he would still

be tired.”

As Lynch predicted, the Sailors didn’t need Peirsol, not when Sinclair

and Nathan Weiner were recording personal-best times. Sinclair completed

a personal best to win the 500-yard freestyle (5:06.62), while Weiner

went 51.99 to finish second in the 100 free. Cole won the 100 free with a

CIF-consideration time of 49.74.

Newport water polo standout Michael Bury won the 50 free (23.28).

Lean, who was been dealing with tendinitis in both shoulders,

continued his “training” approach and won the 200 free (1:44.99), and the

100 back (55.34) with automatic CIF qualifying times. Lean also swam the

anchor leg of the Sailors’ victorious 200 free relay, which also included

Cole, Bury and Weiner.

Hayley Peirsol, Aaron’s younger sister, helped the Sailors to victory

in her first meet since competing in the National Championships, where

she finished runner-up in the 800-meter freestyle.

Hayley Peirsol won the 200-yard individual medley (2:12.35), while

Mackey, who also competed in the nationals, won the 200 free (1:56.34)

and the 100 breaststroke (1:06.68).

With Laguna Hills needing a first- and third-place finish in the final

event to tie the meet, the Newport Harbor duo helped the Sailors to a

victory in the 400 free relay (3:42.18, an automatic CIF qualifying

time), which also included Mai Tajima and Ashley Parole.

Tajima won the 100 back in 1:00.29.

“We’ll load them up,” LaMont said of putting his swimmers in their

favorite events against Irvine. “We want to have a good showing. We knew

Laguna Hills wasn’t as strong, so we moved swimmers around. Halfway

through the meet, I was starting to get scared, but eventually we came

through. Friday will be different. They’ll be in their events.”