High School Swimming: NHHS boys impress

RIVERSIDE — When Newport Harbor High boys’ swimming coach Aaron Peirsol thinks of his first year coaching his alma mater, he said it has been very rewarding.

Peirsol, the five-time Olympic gold medalist, got to see one of his school records fall last week at Sunset League finals. Hayden Hemmens, Jason Trzeciecki, Sawyer Farmer and Dominik Folkner shattered the 400-yard freestyle relay record that Peirsol helped set as a senior in 2002, finishing in 3 minutes, 4.88 seconds. The time broke the 2002 mark by more than two seconds.

“The fact that I was there and got to witness it, I was pretty pumped on that, and just to see them so excited,” Peirsol said. “They deserve to have their names up there [on the record board], for sure. It’s a great time.”

Peirsol never really wants it to be about him. He saw his swimmers put up more great times Thursday morning in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 preliminaries at Riverside City College.

Corona del Mar’s girls were also strong, led by freshman Eva Merrell, who qualified first in the 100 butterfly (51.98) and backstroke (53.86).

The Division 1 finals are set for Saturday at 5 p.m. back at Riverside City College, and both Back Bay teams have large contingents coming back for the championship finals (first- through ninth-place qualifiers).

Folkner and Hemmens, both bound for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, led the Newport Harbor boys. Folkner made two championship finals in individual events, as he qualified fourth in the 50 free in 21.13, and ninth in the 100 free in 46.30. He’s aiming for the school record in both events, and he’s close. The Newport 50 free record is 20.90, while the 100 free mark is 46.15.

“I thought I would go faster, but it’s fine,” Folkner said. “I mean, it’s cool outside. Finals should be better … I think my start was a bit slow, so that’s something I could improve. Otherwise, it felt good.”

Hemmens qualified fifth in the 200 free in 1:39.55, which is just a tenth of a second off his personal best that he swam last week to win the race at league finals. He also qualified for the consolation final in the 100 backstroke, finishing 12th in 51.72.

“I knew I had to go under 1:40 to make it back [in the 200 free],” Hemmens said. “[On Saturday] 1:38 would be great, and 1:37 would be even better. I’m just going to have to stay with the top guys.”

Newport’s freestyle relays also did well. The 200 free relay qualified fifth for finals, as Folkner, Hemmens, Farmer and Trzeciecki touched in 1:25.17. The 400 free relay also qualified fifth, as the same four swimmers finished in 3:06.18.

Merrell, meanwhile, lowered her school records in each of her individual events. But she surprised even herself in the butterfly, where her time of 51.98 approached the Division 1 meet record of 51.78 by Katie McLaughlin, and even the national high school record of 51.70 set last year by Beata Nelson of Wisconsin. McLaughlin, of Santa Margarita High, qualified second in the event Thursday.

“I felt really good,” Merrell said. “My stroke felt different, in a good way … I honestly couldn’t believe I went a 51.9. I didn’t expect that to happen, at all.”

Merrell said she sees room for improvement in the backstroke, though she was close to her personal-best. She also swam anchor in the 400 free relay, where Meagan Popp, Nicole Lin, Kaybree Albright and Merrell qualified third in 3:28.46. Merrell made up a deficit of nearly two seconds on the anchor leg to surpass Hart and win CdM’s heat.

“Eva’s just a racer,” Popp said. “That’s what makes her so good at swimming. She’ll set her sights on anyone and just try to race them down.”

CdM’s quartet of Lin, Popp, Merrell and Sami Pratt also qualified second in the 200 medley relay, lowering their own school record time to 1:45.00.

Popp also had a great day. She qualified fourth in the 200 IM, lowering her school record to 2:00.47. And she qualified third in the breaststroke, in 1:02.72. The time is just one-hundredth of a second off Stephanie Gabert’s 2005 school record time in the event.

“I have one more chance [to set the record],” the Harvard-bound Popp said. “I was happy with it. I would have wanted to go faster, but that’s what prelims are for. You learn something to do better at finals.”

Nicole Lin qualified fifth in the 50 free, in 24.04.

Among CdM boys highlights, Nicole’s older brother, Princeton-bound senior Tyler Lin, qualified third in the breaststroke. He lowered his school record in the event to 55.32. University senior Judd Howard qualified first in 55.04, but Lin, the defending CIF champion in the event, might have something to say about that on Saturday night.

“I think he’s a little annoyed with himself,” CdM Coach Barry O’Dea said. “I’m curious to see how he comes back and reacts to that. He doesn’t like to lose, so I think he’s a little fired up.”

Tyler Lin did qualify fourth in the 200 IM, in 1:49.61. He leads three CdM swimmers in the championship finals of that event, a list that also includes senior Justin Hanson (fifth, 1:50.21) and junior Tim Hanson (eighth, 1:51.01).

CdM’s medley relay team of Ethan Archer, Lin, Justin Hanson and Ashton Jajonie qualified fourth in 1:33.56.

Tim Hanson set the school record in qualifying for the 500 freestyle consolation final. He was 11th in 4:30.95.

Newport Harbor’s girls had one qualifier for Saturday night, in the consolation finals. Carlee Kapana, Dinny Stevens, Sara Henry and Kate Pipkin qualified 14th in the 200 free relay in 1:40.92.

The meet itself seemed to be a race against the rain, which began steadily falling in the meet-ending 400 free relay. It was around that time that Peirsol watched yet another good swim from his team.

“I call quite a few of them friends now,” he said. “It’s neat for me to think that years down the road, I’ll be able to see them and see how they’ve gone through college and all this stuff. To say it was rewarding is an understatement, for sure. I’m very grateful that I can do it. They taught me, man.”