Granada Hills, Venice Win Titles

It was only fitting that the Granada Hills girls’ team began and ended Wednesday’s championships with record-breaking efforts in relay races at Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach.

Relays, after all, are team efforts, similar to the one Granada Hills used to win its fifth consecutive title.

The Highlanders opened the championships with a 1:52.11 clocking in the 200 medley, added a 1:42.01 time in the 200 free and closed with a 3:35.98 finish in the 400 free, all City records.

Granada Hills finished with 320 points to outdistance Woodland Hills El Camino Real, which had 192. Palisades finished third with 156.

Venice won its fourth consecutive boys’ title with 272 points. El Camino Real finished second with 147 and Eagle Rock was third with 139.

Granada Hills’ Jennifer Parmenter, a USC-bound senior who missed making the 1996 U.S. Olympic team by one second in the 400-meter individual medley, won the 200-yard individual medley (2:06.69) and 500-yard freestyle (5:06.60).

Reseda Cleveland’s Amy Jones, who won the 50- and 100-yard freestyles in 24.05 seconds and a City-record 50.79 seconds, respectively, was named the girls’ swimmer of the meet. Jones also competed on the Cavaliers’ 200 and 400 free relay teams that finished second and fourth, respectively, behind Granada Hills.

Double winners in the boys’ competition were El Camino Real’s Brian Brown and Woodland Hills Taft’s Dmitry Uchitel.

Brown, a junior, won titles for the second year in a row in the 200 individual medley (1:56.71) and the 100 backstroke (53.49). His time in the backstroke set a City record.

Brown, who also helped El Camino Real to a second-place finish in the 400 free relay and a victory in the 200 medley relay, was named boys’ swimmer of the meet.

Taft’s Dmitry Uchitel, the defending champion in the 50 free, was a repeat winner in 22.10 seconds. He also added a title in the 100 free with a time of 49.73.