Girls swimming: Newport falls to Laguna Hills

Joseph Boo

LAGUNA HILLS - You could tell Wednesday’s Sea View League battle

between Newport Harbor High and host Laguna Hills’ girls swim teams was

big because Newport Coach Ken LaMont could not stand still. He paced the

pool side frantically, occasionally jumped up to spur on his swimmers.

“I don’t know how you can just sit there,” an excited LaMont said to his

counterpart, Laguna Hills Coach Carri Pardee, at one point.

But no matter how hard he cheered, his Sailors (1-2, 0-2 in league) could

not overcome Laguna Hills in a Sea View League dual meet that pitted

Orange County’s No. 2 Hawks against the No. 3 Tars. The Sailors, whose

only previous loss was to top-ranked Irvine, fell to the Hawks, 95-75.

While Newport will meet Laguna Hills (3-1, 2-0) for much higher stakes in

the Sea View League finals and most likely the CIF Southern Section

Division I championships, LaMont still considered Wednesday an important

meet.

“Ultimately, we could beat them in the league finals and CIF,” he said.

“But there’s something special about beating them in a head-to-head

matchup.”

Both Newport Harbor and Laguna Hills competed with an incomplete team.

The Sailors were missing Carley Geehr and Hayley Peirsol, both nationally

ranked swimmers, while Laguna Hills was without Lindsay Buck, currently

in a senior national meet.

“This wasn’t a true indication about our teams,” Pardee said. “We were

missing one of our top swimmers, and they were missing two of theirs.”

Nevertheless, there were some exciting races, starting with the 200-yard

medley relay. Newport Harbor barely finished ahead in that event with a

time of 1:54.23, or half a second better than Laguna Hills. With Newport

behind by a considerable length, anchor Amy Murphy made a furious

comeback in the 50 freestyle leg and edged Laguna Hills by a fingertip.

Murphy also took the very next event, 200 freestyle, in a much more

comfortable time of 1:58.22, two seconds better than Shauna Barnard of

Laguna Hills.

The most impressive times for Newport again came from freshman Nicole

Mackey. She took the 200 individual medley in 2:07.53, a hefty 11 seconds

better than the runner-up. Her winning time of 58.06 in the 100 butterfly

was better than the top boys time, a 59.54.

“Mackey’s continued to swim well,” LaMont said.

The Sailors’ Jennifer Arrow also bested the top boys time in the 100

breaststroke. Her winning time was 1:08.16.

But the Hawks pulled out the victory with team depth, posting 18 top

three finishes.

“The girls swam well,” LaMont said. “We did what we had to do. It’s just

disappointing we didn’t get the win.”

SEA VIEW LEAGUE

Girls

Laguna Hills 95, Newport Harbor 75

200 medley relay - 1. Newport Harbor (J. Murphy, Arrow, Mackey, A.

Murphy), 1:54.23; 2. Laguna Hills, 1:54.64; 3. Laguna Hills, 2:03.35.

200 free - 1. A. Murphy (NH), 1:28.22; 2. Barnard (LH), 2:00.43; Tajima

(NH), 2:09.76.

200 IM - 1. Mackey (NH), 2:07.53; 2. Class (LH), 2:18.28; 3. Arrow (NH),

2:20.19.

50 free - 1. Economides (LH), 25.95; 2. J. Murphy (NH), 27.01; 3. Tajima

(NH), 27.14.

100 fly - 1. Mackey (NH), 58.06; 2. Deters (LH), 1:01.62; 3. Cho (LH),

1:06.72.

100 free - 1. Economides (LH), 56.66; 2. Luciano (LH), 57.64; 3. Lansing

(NH), 1:00.03.

500 free - 1. Deters (LH), 5:06.68; 2. A. Murphy (NH), 5:18.39; 3.

Sanfilippo (LH), 5:43.08.

200 free relay - 1. Laguna Hills (Cho, Miller, Sanfilipo, Luciano),

1:48.33; 2. Newport Harbor 1:52.58; 3. Laguna Hills, 1:53.34.

100 back - 1. Barnard (LH), NT; 2. J. Murphy (NH), NT; 3. Parole (NH),

NT.

100 breast - 1. Arrow (NH), 1:08.16; 2. Luciano (LH), 1:09.54; 3. Class

(LH), 1:10.90.

400 free relay - 1. Laguna Hills (Deters, Cho, Economides, Barnard),

3:44.65; 2. Newport Harbor, 3:47.73; 3. Laguna Hills, 4:05.89.