Hayes Discovers Her Own Waterway

Jessica Hayes is bucking family tradition . . . sort of.

The Hayes kids were water polo players. Dan, her 21-year-old brother, plays at UC Irvine. Erin, her 18-year-old sister, is sitting out this season, but may play at UCLA next year.

Jessica, though, has gone her separate way in the pool.

Hayes, a junior at University High, is considered one of the top freestyle swimmers in the nation. She was a member of the national junior team that competed in Barcelona last summer.

“In the last three years, she has stepped up to be one of the best high school swimmers in the country,” said Dave Salo, coach of Irvine Novaquatics, Hayes’ club team. “She is starting to realize her potential. She has come to realize she is a pretty good swimmer.”

As if that needed to be reinforced, Hayes won the 100- and 200-yard freestyles at the Southern Section Division II championships last May. It was just part of her busy year.

In June, Hayes traveled with the national team to Spain, where she competed in her first international meet. It was also the first time she had been on her own. She didn’t win, but was able to hold her own in the freestyle and backstroke events.

“There was so much competition there, so many fast swimmers,” Hayes said. “It was exciting.

“I had to learn to stay really focused myself. There was no one there to remind me of things. I had to remind myself to stay with my routine. I didn’t let anything distract me.”

Not that there wasn’t time for some sightseeing . . . swimmer style.

“We went and saw the pool they used in the Olympics,” she said.

Other than that, it was all business.

“Jessica is very quiet and reserved,” Salo said. “But when she swims, she loves the competition. She doesn’t shy away from it. She has kind of grown up in our program.”

Forging her own way.

When Hayes was 6, she followed her siblings into swimming. But while they gravitated toward water polo, she stayed the course. It wasn’t that Hayes disliked water polo; in fact, she has considered playing it. She just has had too much success in swimming.

“Water polo looks fun,” Hayes said. “I just like the way swimming is going.”

In the Division II high school finals, her time of 1 minute 48.26 seconds in the 200-yard freestyle was two-tenths of a second off the section record set by North Hollywood Westlake’s Stacy Shupe in 1982. Hayes’ time of 50.63 in the 100 freestyle was fastest among section swimmers in any division.

Hayes has won four section titles in two seasons. She also set the Orange County record in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:49.92 in the 1998 Division II finals.

By then, she was already having success on the national level.

She qualified for the junior nationals the first time when she was 13. She competed in one event, the 50 freestyle.

“When I moved up to the 9-12 age group, I started getting better. I started getting some [Novaquatic] records,” Hayes said. “But making the nationals was big. For a couple years, I had been just missing it by a couple hundredths of a second.”

The next year she qualified for the senior nationals in the 50, 100 and 200.

“She has experienced that level her brother and sister never did,” Salo said.

Not that she didn’t try to compete with her brother and sister in other ways.

“We always fought over the TV remote,” Hayes said.

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AT A GLANCE

Girls’ Swimming

* The Elite: El Toro junior Kaitlin Sandeno (500 freestyle, 200 individual medley); University junior Jessica Hayes (100 and 200 freestyles); San Clemente junior Sarah Jones (50 freestyle); Marina senior Kyoko Yokouchi (100 backstroke, 100 butterfly); San Clemente sophomore Kristen Caverly (100 freestyle, 200 individual medley); Irvine senior Stephanie Hsiao (50 and 100 freestyles); Laguna Hills senior Shauna Barnard (100 backstroke); San Clemente junior Stephanie Chambers (100 and 200 freestyles); Irvine sophomore Sara Natalizio (50 freestyle); Capistrano Valley senior Erica Sorgi (diving); Cypress senior Takako Nabeshema (diving).

* The Next Level: Canyon sophomore Erin Volcan (200 freestyle, 100 backstroke); Esperanza sophomore Erin Sieper (100 breaststroke, 200 individual medley); Newport Harbor junior Amy Murphy (50 and 100 freestyles); Mission Viejo senior Lindsey Hartman (50 freestyle); Santa Margarita sophomore Shannon Packard (100 backstroke); Los Alamitos senior Elizabeth Klein (100 butterfly, 100 freestyle); Villa Park junior Cindy Henn (200 individual medley, 100 backstroke); Laguna Hills junior Lindsey Buck (100 butterfly); Esperanza senior Teresa Guidi (200 individual medley, 100 backstroke).

* Preseason top 10: 1. Irvine--No one of Amanda Beard’s abilities, but plenty of talent; 2. Laguna Hills--Another Division II title looms; 3. Mission Viejo--Never bet against the Diablos; 4. Esperanza--Solid in the individual medley; 5. Santa Margarita--Strength in numbers; 6. Newport Harbor--Good team in tough league; 7. San Clemente--Top relay teams return; 8. Foothill--Will battle Villa Park for Century League title; 9. Marina--Three quality swimmers to rally behind; 10. Capistrano Valley--Diving counts a lot and Sorgi is county’s best.

* Key Dates: March 21, CIF Relays prelims; March 25, CIF Relays finals; April 6 and 8, Foothill Swim Games; April 12, Irvine at Laguna Hills; April 15, Mission Viejo Invitational; May 11-13, Southern Section championships at Long Beach Belmont Plaza.

* League Favorites: Century--Foothill; Empire--El Dorado; Golden West--Tustin; Olympic--Orange Lutheran; Orange--Brea Olinda; Pacific Coast--Corona del Mar; Sea View--Irvine; Serra--Santa Margarita; South Coast--Mission Viejo; Sunset--Esperanza.

* Fast Fact: Laguna Hills sent its last coach out in style, with a third consecutive section title. Can the Hawks make it four in a row?