Lin headlines CIF State swim entries
Corona del Mar High senior swimmer Tyler Lin already can call himself a two-time CIF Southern Section Division 1 champion in the 100-yard breaststroke.
The first CIF State Swimming & Diving Championships, a two-day meet that runs Friday and Saturday at Clovis West High in Clovis, gives Lin the opportunity to add another title.
State champion.
The Princeton-bound Lin highlights local competitors in the first CIF state meet. Like a state meet in any sport, the meet has attracted talent from all over the state, though many top club swimmers have elected not to participate with Olympic Trials looming next year.
Lin swam a 54.30 to win the 100 breaststroke for the second straight year last Saturday night at the CIF Southern Section Division 1 finals at Riverside City College. He seems to have a legitimate shot at a state title in the event. His time of 54.30 is the fastest qualifying time in the state in the event, narrowly beating the 54.35 swam by Hank Poppe of San Ramon Valley High of Danville.
“If I win that, then it’s like you get a state record, because it’s the first year [of the meet],” Lin said earlier this season. “If you win, you automatically set the record, and it’s pretty cool to say that you’re the state record holder.”
Lin also has the third-fastest qualifying time in the 200 IM, with a 1:48.58 that placed fourth at the Division 1 finals.
Newport Harbor’s boys also will have a strong presence at the state meet. Their 200 free relay, which placed second at the Division 1 finals to Valencia, also had the second-fastest qualifying time for the state meet with a 1:24.71. Terra Linda is seeded first in the event with a 1:24.69.
The Sailors’ 400 free relay, which was fourth in Division 1, also has the second-fastest qualifying time for state with its school-record time of 3:04.30. Northgate High had the fastest time with a 3:00.21.
Both relays feature Hayden Hemmens, Dominik Folkner, Jason Trzeciecki and Sawyer Farmer.
Individually, the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo-bound senior Hemmens will compete in the 200 freestyle, where his qualifying time of 1:39.22 places him eighth on the meet’s psych sheet. Folkner, also bound for Cal Poly, qualified 19th in the 100 freestyle in 46.62.
CdM’s boys also will compete at state in all three relays (200 medley, 200 and 400 freestyle).
No Newport-Mesa girls will compete at the state meet. CdM freshman Eva Merrell and senior Meagan Popp each easily would have qualified in both of their individual events, but both are planning to swim in the Grand Challenge club meet this weekend at Irvine’s Woollett Aquatics Center.
CIF State swim preliminaries begin Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Clovis West High, with finals beginning Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
