Boys swim: Peirsol adds to his CIF hardware

Tony Altobelli

BELMONT SHORE - It wasn’t a Rolex or anything, but the going-away

present for Newport Harbor boys swim coach Brian Kreutzkamp could not

have been any more special.

Watching his Sailors compete for the last time, Kreutzkamp witnessed

his squad shatter school records left and right as Newport placed third

overall at Friday night’s CIF Southern Section Division I finals at

Belmont Plaza.

The Sailors racked up 195 points, finishing behind Irvine (279) and

Santa Margarita (213).

“That was awesome,” Kreutzkamp said of his team’s accomplishments.

“It’s the best I’ve ever seen these guys perform. Considering we have

three club swimmers and Irvine has 20 seniors, all club swimmers, we

didn’t do too bad out there.”

Leading the show was Olympic silver medalist Aaron Peirsol. Much to

the surprise of nobody, the junior won the 100-yard back for the third

year in a row with a 48.12, betting the pack by over two seconds.

Peirsol’s predictable win came on the heels of his 200 freestyle

title, which he won with a time of 1:38.62, giving the multi-talented

water cruiser five CIF individual titles. He also won the 200 IM last

year, setting a Division I record with a 1:49.02.

“It’s kind of funny how I set the IM record before I can even come

near the backstroke record (47.50 by Derya Buyukuncu),” Peirsol said.

“That’s next on my list of things to do.”

Kreutzkamp summed up Peirsol’s talent with one sentence. “I’ll never

coach a kid like that ever again,” he said. “Maybe he should take up

diving for next year’s finals. There’s not much left for him to do as far

as races go.”

But perhaps, the Sailors’ crowning jewel came in the 400 free relay,

where Peirsol, Andrew Cole, Peter Belden and Ryan Lean put on quite a

show for the now former coach of the Sailors.

Cole, Belden and Lean sliced through the water and managed to hang

tough with the top dogs of the meet, Irvine.

“I knew when I jumped in the water we were going to win that race,”

Peirsol said. “If we stayed within a second of the leaders, I could make

that up.”

Which he did with a mind-boggling 44.6 split, giving the Sailors with

win with a 3:09.97.

“This was the perfect going-away present,” Peirsol said of the winning

relay. “Coach ‘K’ has put so much time and energy into this program, it

was nice to end it all with a win for him.”

The winning time shattered the Sailors 1981 school record by nearly

two seconds. “Some guy named (John) Moffet was on that relay team too, so

this was a pretty special thing to witness,” Kreutzkamp said. “That

record might stand for a while.”

Newport’s foursome of Peirsol, Belden Joey Snelgrove and Steven

Jendrusina successfully defended their Division I title in the 200 free

with a school-record time of 1:26.09, edging out Irvine (1:26.87).

In other relay news, the Sailors’ 200 medley relay of Cole, Snelgrove,

Jendrusina and Sean Johnson placed third with a 1:42.39.

Lean, not just restricted to relays, overcame a slow start to finish

third in the 500 free (4:31.66). He also posted the fifth-fastest time of

the day in the 200 free, winning the consolation race with a 1:43.78.

Another consolation winner was Belden, who posted the eighth-fastest

time in the 50 free (22.03).

Cole qualified for the finals in both the 100 free and 100 back and

didn’t disappoint in either event. He took fourth in the 100 back (51.66) and fifth in the 100 free (47.80).