Fountain Valley girls again come up big

The Fountain Valley High girls’ swim team went to chow down on pizza after its final Sunset League dual meet of the season.

Some ate more than others.

“I told them I’m going to eat a whole pizza tonight,” Coach Kyle Naumann said with a smile on his face.

The league is particularly tough this season, but the Barons girls continue to feast on the competition.

The latest win was the biggest so far, a 94-76 victory over visiting Los Alamitos on Tuesday in a battle of league unbeatens.

Fountain Valley’s girls (5-0 in league), who have not won a league title since 1997, head into next week’s Sunset League finals at Golden West College with plenty of momentum.

The Barons boys (1-4 in league) suffered another close loss to Los Alamitos, 86-84.

For Fountain Valley’s girls, ranked No. 4 in Orange County by the Register, Tuesday’s win against No. 3 Los Alamitos (4-1) was full of big performances. It started in the very first event of the day, the 200 medley relay.

The Barons girls touched one-two. Senior Carly Perri, sophomore Hannah Farrow, junior Shayla Erickson and senior Kennedy Hood touched first in 1:50.54. The Barons “B” team of junior Cassie Koger, junior Abigail Nelson, freshman Katelyn Dang and senior Monet Favreau touched second in 1:52.41.

Yes, Fountain Valley has talent at all grade levels. The Barons also had a 13-3 lead after the first event of the meet.

“That was a ‘bomb’ way to start the meet,” Hood said. “That was really exciting.”

Erickson won the 200 freestyle in 1:53.51 to follow, and Fountain Valley never trailed the meet. The Barons were up by 10 points entering the 100 breaststroke, where they clinched the win in thrilling fashion.

Farrow (1:08.19), Nelson (1:09.14) and Dang (1:09.21) claimed the top three spots in the breast, giving the Barons an insurmountable 88-68 advantage.

“It was really good,” said Farrow, who also won the 200 IM in 2:07.62. “I was trying to pump them up before the race, because I knew that [the sweep] was what we needed to secure a win. To actually do it was really great.”

Erickson also was a double-event winner, as she captured the 500 free in 5:04.30. Perri was the Barons’ other event winner, as she took down the 100 backstroke in 59.89 seconds. Fountain Valley’s Koger and Alexandra Brooks claimed the third and fourth spots in the event.

The Barons girls did have to deal with some adversity. Even though it appeared that Dang held on to defeat Los Alamitos’ Bayley Weber in the 100 butterfly, the timing system showed that Weber won by three-hundredths of a second. In the next event, the 100 free, Fountain Valley had a swimmer disqualified for a late arrival to the blocks.

But Fountain Valley still was able to stay unbeaten in league.

“I was pretty confident, low-key,” Favreau said. “I knew we were really stacked. But we couldn’t underestimate them. “

Added Hood: “It’s something I’ve wanted since freshman year. To actually be on top now, it’s really nice. It’s a confidence-boost, reassuring.”

Naumann is in his first year as coach, and he’s also enjoying the ride. He said he was a little worried about the 200 IM, where the Griffins finished two-three-four behind Farrow. But it ended up working out just fine.

“We had girls there that weren’t necessarily specialized there,” Naumann said. “But because of that lead in the beginning, I just took a deep breath and we swam our races. Obviously, breaststroke, that just sealed the deal for us. One-two-three, that was beautiful. It was a solid, very exciting and happy day.

“I think our boys can definitely surprise some people coming up here at league. I’m looking forward to it. Obviously, our girls, the numbers speak for themselves.”

Seniors Justin Nguyen and Anthony Pham were double-event winners for the Fountain Valley boys. Nguyen won the 50 free (22.07) and 100 free (49.30). Pham captured the 200 IM in 2:02.92, as well as the 100 backstroke in 56.62.

Nguyen also led a sizable comeback on the anchor leg of the 400 free relay, which was won by Brandon Nghi, Joshua Doan, Adam Mancini and Nguyen in 3:19.46.

Long Dang won the 100 breaststroke for the Barons, in 1:04.75.

The Sunset League meet has preliminaries on May 3 at Golden West College, with the finals on May 5 starting at 3 p.m.

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