Girls swim: Mackey breaks Beard’s league record in 100 butterfly

Richard Dunn

IRVINE - The Sea View League record Newport Harbor High sophomore

Nicole Mackey established Wednesday in the girls 100-yard backstroke at

the league preliminaries was short-lived.

It lasted two days.

But Mackey set her sights on a different standard Friday in the Sea

View League Finals at Irvine High, breaking the league record in the 100

butterfly formerly held by two-time Olympian Amanda Beard of Irvine.

“I really wanted to break that record,” said Mackey, whose 55.90 edged

Irvine’s Flora Kong (55.99) in the closest finish of the meet.

“I looked up (at the league record) right before I swam, and I thought

to myself, ‘I’m going to do it.’ In a meet like this, you’re trying to go

all out.”

In the 100 back, Irvine’s Diana MacManus, who swam at the U.S. Olympic

Trials last year, broke Mackey’s two-day league record with a time of

55.63. Mackey, who set the record at the prelims in 57.30, posted a 57.23

in the finals.

In addition to Mackey’s Sea View championship in the butterfly,

Newport Harbor captured three other individual titles, two by Carly

Geehr.

The Sailors, who finished second behind Irvine in all three relays,

placed second as expected in league championship points behind the

Vaqueros (560 points). Newport Harbor (455), Laguna Hills (376),

Woodbridge (312) and Aliso Niguel (204) followed Irvine.

“We just go right through this meet (without shaving or tapering),”

Newport Harbor Coach Ken LaMont said.

Mackey, Geehr, sophomore Hayley Peirsol and senior Jennifer Arrow have

been the Sailors’ big point-gainers this season, and it wasn’t much

different in the league finals.

Geehr, a junior, won the league championship in the 200 freestyle

(1:51.36), touching well ahead of Irvine’s MacManus (1:55.36) and Kong

(1:56.15). Geehr also won the 200 individual medley in 2:04.55.

In the 500 free, Peirsol was a clear-cut winner in a sizzling 5:00.26.

She was followed by Aliso Niguel’s Jaqueline Welch (5:37.16) and Newport

Harbor’s Paige Lansing (5:42.73) and Peggy Beebe (5:46.53).

Newport Harbor was second in the 200 medley relay (1:50.86) with

Mackey, Arrow, Geehr and Peirsol, second in the 200 free relay (1:44.42)

with Erin Ball, Jessica Ball, Mai Tajima and Jenna Murphy, and second in

the 400 free relay (3:36.16) with Geehr, Peirsol, Tajima and Mackey.

In Mackey’s record-setting butterfly, she still didn’t top her career

best of 55.4, accomplished in a club swim meet last year. But her 55.90

was a season-best clocking.

“I want to break 54 (seconds) at CIF,” said Mackey, who placed second

in the fly last year at the CIF Southern Section Division I Finals behind

El Toro’s Kaitlin Sandeno, who went on to qualify for the 2000 Sydney

Olympic Games.

In club, Mackey has defeated Sandeno in the 200 individual medley and

every freestyle event, but has yet to beat her in the fly. Mackey will no

doubt square off against Sandeno again at the CIF Finals next Friday at

Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach.

But topping Beard’s Sea View butterfly mark Friday was a thrill for

Mackey. “It’s pretty good,” she said. “I’m happy.”

“It was a helluva swim,” LaMont said. “We knew coming into this meet

that there would be some good races, and the 100 butterfly and 100 back

were two of the biggest races of the day. Carly Geehr we knew was no

problem; Hayley Peirsol we knew was no problem; and Jennifer Arrow, a

breaststroker, moved up two spots in the 200 IM (when she placed sixth in

2:20.66).”

In the 100 free, senior Erin Ball finished fifth in 56.71, while Arrow

placed third in the 100 breast (1:09.26).