Boys swimming: Tars bask in glory

Steve Virgen

NEWPORT BEACH - Newport Harbor High swim coach Jason Lynch

described winning the boys CIF Southern Section Division I title as

unbelievable. Unbelievable indeed.

The Sailors basically used seven swimmers to score points. And, they

won the meet by two points over Mission Viejo, which had a

disqualification in the 200-yard freestyle relay. They had to win the

final event, the 400 free relay, to take home the CIF title.

Led by seniors Aaron Peirsol and Ryan Lean and junior Andrew Cole,

Newport also received help from Nathan Weiner, Michael Bury, Jay Thompson

and Brent Armstrong. The latter four, who also play for the Newport water

polo team, earned eight points for the Tars, finishing 13th in the 200

medley relay.

Cole, Lean, Weiner and Peirsol won the 400 free relay and broke the

school record in 3:07.11.

Lynch is hoping winning CIF, that stuff of champions, rubs off on his

water polo players as they prepare for the upcoming season.

“I don’t see that this is a (start of a) dynasty,” Lynch said of the

Newport boys swim team. “I just hope the guys are motivated and they can

try to win a league (swim) championship. I hope, more so than anything

else, that they learn about coming through when the chips are down. That

was my biggest frustration all year. In two meets we tried to win, Irvine

and Edison, which we are at full strength, we didn’t come through. But

then we came through in CIF.”

The three Newport juniors, Weiner, Thompson and Armstrong, and the

sophomore, Bury, said they were excited to be on the same team with

Peirsol, the three-time world-record holder and silver-medal Olympian,

Lean, the gritty freestyle swimmer who’s bound for Cal Berkeley, and

Cole, the steady force in every competition.

“Swimming with all the club guys, I thought that was real cool,”

Armstrong said of The Big Three, Peirsol, Lean and Cole, who swim on the

same club team, Irvine Novaquatics. “In the past seasons, we (the water

polo players) think about the swim season as punishment. This season was

fun and it was a privilege to be on a team that won CIF. This year, CIF

just made it more interesting and we all wanted to be on the team.”

The two seniors, Peirsol and Lean, were intent on making the season

fun for all the Sailors.

“Last year, (after Newport finished third in CIF Division I), Aaron

and I started talking about (winning CIF),” Lean said. “We knew Irvine

would be losing a lot of guys. That’s when we started thinking about it

more.”

Former boys swim and water polo coach Brian Kreutzkamp, who is now an

assistant water polo coach at Stanford, also knew the Sailors could win

CIF in 2002. He used the belief as a selling point when he recruited

Lynch to be Newport’s next coach.

“Kreutzkamp was telling me about why I should come to Newport because

I wasn’t unhappy at Capo Valley,” Lynch said. “That was one of the things

he told me: ‘You can win CIF next year.’ It’s unbelievable that it

actually happened. It’s unbelievable and great.”

For the Newport swimmers, who reunited for a team photo Wednesday,

coming back to school after the weekend was also great.

“Coming back to school, it’s been like a huge welcome mat,” said

Peirsol, who will be swimming for the University of Texas after he

graduates next month. “It’s good to be back. Everyone is just happy. It’s

awesome to win CIF. It was a great way to end high school. It’s

definitely the best high school year so far. It’s pretty exciting; it’s

awesome.”

Peirsol added two CIF individual titles (200 free and 100 back) to his collection and he now owns seven titles, including four straight in the

100 back.

Winning CIF was equally as special for Lean, who dealt with tendinitis

in his shoulders this year.

“Winning CIF, that’s the big one,” Lean said. “I’ll remember that for

a long time.”

Cole, who moved here from Sandy, Utah last year, also cherished the

title, as he looked on to next year.

“I think about the strengths and weaknesses we’re going to have next

year,” said Cole, who was undefeated in the 100 free this year, winning

the CIF title in 46.15. “The weakness, of course, is that we’re not going

to have Ryan Lean and Peirsol. We probably won’t do as well as we did

this year. However, due to the fact that we did so well this season, I

think that really motivated a lot of the water polo swimmers to do a lot

better and really go at it. It shows that they have the potential. Though

we’re not going to be as strong. We are really going to show some

talent.”