High School Swimming: Mesa sweeps Estancia

Yessenia Villa is used to interviewing people.

Villa, a senior at Costa Mesa High, writes for the school newspaper, The Equestrian. But on Wednesday, the interviewer became the interviewee.

“This is so cool,” Villa said. “Finally.”

She earned it after she helped Costa Mesa edge rival Estancia, 85-81, in the Orange Coast League-opening swim meet at the Eagles’ pool.

Costa Mesa also got past Estancia, 97-73, on the boys’ side.

Villa won the 200-yard freestyle in 2 minutes, 19.81 seconds for the Costa Mesa girls. She also won the 500 freestyle, in 6:17.08, and was on the meet-ending 400 free relay quartet that also was victorious.

Villa, sophomores Lauren Kiefer and Kendra Ferguson and senior anchor Bridgette Smitheram touched in 4:17.70, easily a first-place time. It was a new grouping, as Kiefer said it was her first time swimming in the relay, but the Mustangs stepped up. They needed to win the final event after going into it tied with Estancia, 77-77.

Mesa boys’ and girls’ swim Coach Kyle Thorsness huddled the girls before the event, letting them know exactly was at stake. He also told them to swim a safe race to avoid the chance of disqualification.

“[We wanted to] beat our rivals, you know?” Villa said. “We’ve got to frickin’ beat ‘em. All out.”

Other event winners for the Mustangs included Karlee Kistler in the 100 fly (1:20.01), and Cialee Enslow in the 100 free (1:04.82). And Sarah Catania was all smiles after swimming a 1:27.10 to win the 100 breaststroke.

“They had stacked their varsity events,” said Thorsness, in his first year as head coach at his alma mater. “We don’t have them all filled and they did, so I was worried right off the bat. Luckily, we had a lot of firsts and seconds, a lot of first-place finishes that helped us out.”

Estancia junior Brandi White won both of her individual events for the Eagles. She captured the 200 individual medley in 2:26.38, as well as the 100 back in 1:06.24. White is the two-time defending league champion in the backstroke.

She also swam it in the meet-opening medley relay, where White, freshman Finley Garnett, sophomore Meg Tuxford and junior Alex Adkisson touched in 2:14.13. Estancia girls’ coach Bob Bandaruk said the time was a season-best by about four seconds.

“All I care about is the times right now,” Bandaruk said. “Personal-bests all up and down the board, so it was great.”

Garnett, who was the leading scorer for the Estancia girls’ basketball team this winter as a freshman, also won the 50 freestyle in 27.88. And Garnett, Adkisson, Tuxford and White won the 200 free relay in 1:58.17.

“She’s raw,” Bandaruk said of Garnett. “You can tell she’s just an athlete that needs to get some additional swimming in. There’s tons of potential there, and hopefully we can get it going before [league] finals. The other day in a meet, she didn’t touch two hands in the breaststroke, and she’s like, ‘Whoops!’ Well, you know, it’s been a while since she’s done that.”

It’s been a while since the Mustang boys have lost to the Eagles, too. Junior Angel Rosado was a star for the Mustangs on Wednesday, as he won the 200 IM in 2:10.28 and the 100 fly in 57.94. Mesa’s Nick Ly was another double winner, taking the 50 free (24.22) and 100 breast (1:08.07).

Mesa’s Corbin Fisher won the 500 free in 5:35.02, and the visitors also won both freestyle relays in 1:39.54 and 3:36.81, respectively. Jacob Peterson, Rosado, Augie Cunningham and Tony Shin were on the 200 free relay.

Estancia’s boys’ team was led by sophomore Jason Chesemore, who set a personal best by more than three seconds in winning the 200 freestyle in 1:57.06. Chesemore also won the 100 free in 52.51, and swam the anchor of the winning 200 medley relay. Junior Chris DeFrenza, freshman Cobi White, sophomore Kent Lim and Chesemore touched in 1:50.99.

DeFrenza won the 100 backstroke in 1:03.57.

“The nucleus of the team is very young and very fast,” Estancia boys’ Coach John Carpenter said. “We’re excited about the future with those kids.”

Back on the girls’ side, the Mustangs were happy with the win after losing last year’s dual meet to Estancia. Smitheram, who was second to White in both the 200 IM and the backstroke, said it was especially rewarding as a senior.

“Honestly, it was awesome,” Smitheram said. “We practice so hard every day, and it pays off, all that hard work. I’m glad that my last year I could say that we beat our rival, that we were the faster team. It was really cool.”