CdM sizzles in 6 x 50 free relay victory

Bryce Alderton

Remember Jordan Anae, Brittney Bowlus, Danielle Carlson, Katya

Eadington, Christina Hewko and Vivian Liao. Those names will be

forever etched in Corona del Mar High lore as the members of 20-year

coach Doug Volding’s first winning relay team in the girls CIF

Millikan Southern Section Relay finals held Saturday night at Belmont

Plaza.

CdM clocked a 2:31.84 in the 6 x 50-yard freestyle, besting its

preliminary time (2:35.06) and beating Foothill (2:33.16), swimming

in the next lane.

“Katya Eadington and Danielle Carlson really came through,”

Volding said. “Everyone did what they had to do, but those two really

stepped it up.”

Bowlus finished it off for the Sea Kings with a 24.63 anchor.

“We knew we were ranked second going in with our prelim time and

we just wanted to drop some time off that mark,” Bowlus said. “To

drop four seconds ... we dominated.”

Hewko said she slipped off the blocks in Thursday’s preliminaries,

allowing for the seconds to tick off. But she was all smiles

Saturday.

“It’s fun because we see a lot of these girls in water polo, so it

makes the races exciting,” said Hewko, who will play water polo next

season at Stanford.

The Sea Kings were entered in six of the seven relay finals

Saturday. They recorded a third, fourth and two fifth-place finishes

along with the first place en route to tallying 158 points -- good

for fourth -- the best finish for a team coached by Volding. CdM

finished sixth last year and eighth in 2001.

Increased training and a steady work ethic have allowed CdM to

gently climb the relay ladder the last two years.

“We have a lot of new talent that has come in and we’ve worked

harder than before,” said Bowlus, headed to UCLA to play water polo

next season. “I’ve been trying to push myself at practice.”

Anae, Kim McKay, Tumua Anae and Alexandra Shue anchored CdM’s 4 x

100 individual medley team which finished third (4:09.3). Irvine

became the first team to break the four minute mark in the event’s

29-year existence when it clocked a 3:59.11.

McKay, Ashley Chandler, Jessica Harkins and Hewko finished fourth

in the 4 x 50 backstroke (1:56.84) with Tumua Anae, Alexine

Rodenhuis, Camille Hewko and Jackie McCoy recording a fifth-place

effort in the 4 x 50 breaststroke (2:10.70).The 4 x 50 medley relay

team of Jordan and Tumua Anae, Shue and Bowlus clocked fifth place in

1:55.25.

A CdM swimmer jumped early, resulting in a DQ in the 4 x 100 free.

Newport Harbor came in 10th place with 64 points, but was only

entered in two final events in a meet won by Villa Park with 228

points.

Harbor placed fifth in the 4 x 100 free with the team of Alex

Andersen, Mai Tajima, Ashley Parole and Nicole Mackey touching in

3:41.90. The Sailor quartet of Tajima, Mackey, Hillary Karges and

Parole then took seventh (1:56.90) in the 4 x 50 medley relay.

Newport senior Hayley Peirsol, who will swim in the national

championships when they begin Tuesday in Indianapolis, was in

attendance Saturday. Newport Coach Ken LaMont held her out of the

relays to train for the nationals.

It was Newport’s frosh-soph team that took away a plaque from

Saturday’s festivities. The Tars finished third with 40 points,

edging Alhambra in a tiebreaker. Harbor and Alhambra both had 40

points, so meet officials referred to the seventh race from the

prelims, whereNewport and Alhambra went 3-4.

Kali Lucas, Amanda Barto, Bryndis Klein, Melissa Wheeler and Leah

Robertson won the 6 x 50 free in 2:42.36 and the 4 x 100 free team of Wheeler, Lucas, Barto and Klein finished first in 3:54.84.

“We had a strong freestyle presence,” said Newport Coach Ken

LaMont. “They surprised us. All the girls had great times.”

Newport’s varsity contingent of Anne Belden, Annmarie Harvey,

Ashling Taylor, Andersen, Parole and Jenna Murphy finished second to

University in the consolation final of the 6 x 50 free (2:37.87).