SWIMMING ROUNDUP : El Toro Girls, Marina Boys Are Winners

Might as well dream big, and the way the El Toro girls are swimming, it might be a pretty realistic one.

“We want to win league and (the Southern Section), but who doesn’t,” El Toro senior Michelle Perry said Friday after her team coasted to a 120-50 nonleague meet victory over Marina.

In the boys’ competition, Marina (7-0) upended previously undefeated El Toro for a 106-64 victory. Sweet as it was, Marina’s victory was tempered by the absence of three key El Toro swimmers, including John Simmons, who is at the senior nationals in Nashville, Tenn.

“We have to take the win in stride,” Marina Coach John Wright said. “They have some of their top guys out. But we were pumped. We still feel good about beating them. They’re the defending section champion. They’re very tough.”

The Marina boys led by five points after three events, but won the top two places in enough events to pull away from the Chargers. The Vikings’ only double winner was Jon Kenyon, whose 22.50-second finish in the 50-yard freestyle bettered teammate Jason Klick’s 22.77. Kenyon also won a close race in the 100 butterfly with a winning time of 55.19. Jay Reaves was a double winner for El Toro (200 individual medley, 100 breaststroke).

As for the El Toro girls, they are undefeated through seven dual and two relay meets, which they have won convincingly. The Chargers’ closest meet was against Mission Viejo, where they were 20 points better.

“At this point, they’re probably the best team El Toro’s ever had,” Coach Sheri Ross said.

This is the closest-knit El Toro team Perry has been on, which partially explains the Chargers’ enormous success. She knows Marina was without some of its top swimmers--Linda Levitan is at the nationals and another senior is on a recruiting trip--but believed her team would rise to the occasion.

“Just like we did against Mission Viejo,” said Perry, who won the 200 individual medley and 100 free. El Toro’s other double-event winner was Katie Lowes (50 free, 100 fly.)