PREP ROUNDUP : Mission Viejo Boys, Girls Dominate Their Own Swimming Invitational

Eric Diehl has graduated, but that didn’t stop the Mission Viejo boys’ team from overpowering the rest of the field Saturday to easily win the championship of the Mission Viejo Invitational Swimming Tournament.

Despite the absence of Diehl, the most valuable boys’ competitor in this meet the previous two years, Coach Mike Pelton’s team combined a contingent of talented sophomores and juniors with senior Marcin Malinski, who won 100 breaststroke and 200 individual medley (setting a meet record), to score 479 points and finish well ahead of second-place Laguna Hills (266).

The Mission Viejo girls’ team followed suit by scoring 440 points to outdistance Carondolet (308) from the San Francisco area and complete a Diablo sweep at the Mission Viejo Recreation Center.

Three meet records were broken, including Malinski’s 1:51.93 in the individual medley, smashing the 1:54.39 set by Mission Viejo’s Dan Jorgensen in 1985. It was a bad day for Jorgensen altogether. Santa Maria Righetti’s Randy Hartley, who was named boys’ MVP of the meet, shattered Jorgensen’s 100 backstroke record of 52.97 with a 52.53.

The Mission Viejo girls’ 200 freestyle relay team of M.C. Vadman, Leslie Rhee, Larissa Koerner and Kristine Palle set the other mark with a 1:42.81, eclipsing their year-old record of 1:44.63.

The Diablo boys’ 200 medley relay of Matt Turnbull, Malinski, Robert Delgado and Brad Kaup set the pace for the day by defeating Mira Monte of Orinda in 1:39.95. Kaup and Delgado combined with Adam Grodzki and sophomore Andy Davis to nip Mira Monte in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:30.61.

Mission Viejo had clinched the championship before the last event--the 400 freestyle relay--but the Diablos’ Turnbull, Grodzki, Malinski and sophomore John Lisabeth turned in a 3:15.48 to beat second-place Laguna Hills (3:17.56) by more than two seconds.

Laguna Hills’ Chad Carvin won the 200 (1:39.87) and 500 freestyles (4:27.95), but Hartley won individual honors with double victories in the 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly (51.09).

“I felt pretty good about breaking (Jorgensen’s) record. He’s the kind of guy you look up to,” Hartley said of the world-class competitor. “It’s pretty incredible to beat the record of someone of that stature.”

Carondolet’s Nicole Deman was the girls’ MVP with victories in the 50 freestyle (24.41) and 100 freestyle (53.44). Capistrano Valley Christian’s Ali Ladeda was just as impressive, winning the 200 freestyle (1:54.58) and coming back in the next event to win the 200 individual medley in 2:10.78.

In Angelus League baseball:

Santa Margarita 7, Servite 0--Gordon Williams (5-1) pitched a four-hitter, and the visiting Eagles (10-5, 6-3) turned four double plays behind him.

In Sunset League baseball:

Fountain Valley 3, Marina 2--Larry Welch’s one-out single in the bottom of the seventh scored Jeff Estes with the winning run for the host Barons (11-11, 4-3).

Marina tied the score at 2 in the top of the seventh before Ara Petrosian (3-2) relieved starter Rich Montgomery with runners on second and third and retired the only two batters he faced.

In nonleague baseball:

Liberty Christian 9, Downey Calvary Chapel 2--The Minutemen (12-1) combined four singles an error and a hit batter for five runs in the fourth inning at TeWinkle Park.

Gabe Baltodano was three for three with a double and triple, driving in two runs and scoring three times as Liberty Christian won its ninth consecutive game.

In nonleague softball:

Calvary Chapel 6-7, Long Beach Poly 3-11--Jennifer Hoffman had two hits, drove in two runs and scored twice in the opener at TeWinkle Park.

Kim Schroy went three for three, scored two runs and drove in three runs, including a two-run homer for the Eagles (8-7).

Trabuco Hills 8-4, Santa Margarita 0-3--Brianna Burkman (7-5) pitched a two-hitter, striking out 12, in the opener and picked up the victory in relief in the second game for the host Mustangs (12-8).

Stephanie Pike had four hits in the opener. Christy Lunceford homered in the first game and drove in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh of the second game.