Boys’ Swimming: CdM in the mix
MISSION VIEJO — For the second straight day, it was meet day for the Corona del Mar High boys’ swimming team.
The Sea Kings had little problem on Wednesday, romping over Irvine in a Pacific Coast League opener on the road.
CdM went further away from home Thursday, for good reason. The Sea Kings had a tougher challenge in a double dual-meet against fellow perennial CIF Southern Section Division 1 powers Loyola of Los Angeles and Capistrano Valley.
Times across the board were faster for the Sea Kings on Thursday.
“It just goes to show you how better competition can make us go faster,” CdM senior Tyler Lin said.
In terms of the standings at the annual meet, the Sea Kings found themselves in the middle. They beat host Capo Valley, 109-61, but lost to Loyola, 102-68.
Loyola, last year’s Division 1 runner-up, added another notch to its belt after winning at defending Division 1 champion University, 90-80, in a dual meet earlier this month. But both CdM Coach Barry O’Dea and Loyola Co-Coach Chris Gibson know that racing well at Division 1 finals, where CdM finished fifth a year ago, is the end goal.
“Super-good day for us,” said O’Dea, who had a busy night as well as he had to get back to CdM for its open house. “We get a chance to see what we have to measure up to, getting ready for CIF. It’s going to be tough. [Loyola’s] pretty tough. They beat Uni ... so it’s going to be fun. We’ve got some water polo guys who are getting there. We’re faster in some places than we have been at this point before.”
Lin, bound for Princeton, is the defending CIF champion and CdM record-holder in the 100-yard breaststroke. He won it again Thursday, in a season-best 56.79 seconds. He was also second in the 200 individual medley, but he was obviously OK with finishing second to a teammate there.
Northwestern-bound CdM senior Justin Hanson (1:51.34), Lin (1:52.67) and Boston College-bound senior Taylor Cortens (1:53.48) swept the top three spots in the event.
“These guys take a lot of pride in that, and I think it’s awesome,” O’Dea said.
Justin Hanson was second in the 100 butterfly (50.01), and Tim Hanson was third in the 500 free (4:39.12) and fourth in the 200 free (1:44.28). Cortens also earned another third-place individual finish, in the 100 backstroke (53.51).
O’Dea said Lin, Justin Hanson and Cortens, who all swim club for AquaZot, have all been great senior leaders for the Sea Kings.
“These guys chip in a lot,” O’Dea said. “They give a lot of advice to those guys about things off turns or under water, so it’s good stuff. We’re having a fun year. The bus rides are fun, with lots of discussions. It’s always cool when you get a good senior group of leaders on the swim team. These three guys, they do a phenomenal job. They picked up a lot of the slack. The last couple of years, we’ve had some really strong seniors, and these guys are doing pretty much the same thing.”
CdM junior Jon Polos, one of the aforementioned water polo guys, was the team’s other top-four finisher. He earned fourth place in back-to-back events, the 50 free (22.34) and the 100 fly (54.82).
“It’s definitely the best we’ve been this early in the season, especially for our water polo guys also,” said Justin Hanson, who knows that water polo players like Patrick Ong, Tanner Roletter and Foster Hoose are solid contributors. “They haven’t gotten this fast this early.”
CdM was second in two relays, all three of which were won by Loyola. Cortens, Lin, Justin Hanson and Polos were second in the medley relay in 1:35.96, while Lin, Justin Hanson, Cortens and Tim Hanson were second in the 400 free relay in 3:11.54.
Loyola was just too strong, though. Gibson said even he was surprised at some of the times. But he has very talented swimmers like sophomore Sean Lee, who earned CIF automatic times in the 100 fly (first, 49.42) and 200 freestyle (second, 1:39.60). Gibson said that Lee now already has automatic cuts in six of the eight individual events.
Other individual winners for the Cubs included Joon Sung (100 free) and Samuel Jo (backstroke).
“It’s always good to come down and swim perennial powers in CIF,” said Gibson, adding that he believes that University is still the favorite to repeat as Division 1 champion.
Cal-bound senior Nick Norman, who won the 200 free (1:38.68) and 500 free (4:23.76), led host Capistrano Valley.
CdM returns to action with a home meet against Woodbridge on Wednesday. The Sea Kings’ league showdown against University is April 15.
