Mesa teams roll through Estancia

Bryce Alderton

Defying preseason predictions, Costa Mesa High’s boys and girls swim

teams continued to glide through the Golden West League waters again

Wednesday, this time against arch-rival Estancia.

Picked to finish in the middle of the pack by the league’s

coaches, Mesa’s boys and girls teams both improved to 3-0 in league

play with convincing victories Wednesday in a league dual meet in the

Eagles’ pool. The girls won, 115-55, while the boys netted a 112-55

victory, this after the meet was delayed about 15 minutes because

there was no official. Estancia Athletic Director Tim Parsel called

in Jack Busacher, a longtime track and field official, to oversee the

meet. Busacher promptly shot off his pistol to signal the start of

the races, which were controlled by Costa Mesa for the most part.

“I think we’re doing pretty good,” said Mesa’s Allison Bunnell

after exiting the water following her win in the 100-yard freestyle,

an event she said she normally doesn’t swim.

Bunnell teamed with Allie Gravis, Christine Twohig and Jessica

Steenhard to win the 200 freestyle relay in 2:00.06 while Allison

Harris, Quyen Nguyen, Steenhard and Sarah Bowman also placed first in

the 200 medley relay in 2:10.31.

Mesa girls won eight events to Estancia’s three. Katie Thorsness

took first in both the 200 individual medley (2:33.86) and the 500

free. Steenhard won the 100 butterfly (1:13.38) while Harris touched

first in the 200 free (2:15.43).

Carolina Barnes won both the 100 backstroke (4:02.5) and the 50

free (29.47) while Marilyn Reich prevailed in the 100 breaststroke (44.34).

Mesa improves to 4-1 while Estancia falls to 4-4, 2-3 in league.

Shupp shuffled his lineups for both teams, giving swimmers a

chance to swim different events than they normally do.

The strategy paid off.

Sophomore Adam Douglas doubled in the 200 free (2:00.23), the

first time he has swam the event, and the 100 free (53.3). He also

solidified both relay wins for Mesa (5-1).

“I started the 200 in 53 seconds, but went longer on the final

leg,” Douglas said. “I didn’t pace myself too good.”

Turns out, Douglas and his teammates held up just fine.

Douglas, along with Evan Spencer, Brian Tipton and Kyle Thorsness

won the 200 medley relay (1:52) while Douglas, Anthony Adamowicz,

Thorsness and Spencer took the 400 free relay in 3:51.28.

Spencer won the 200 IM in 2:23.30 while Tyler Choi bested the

field in the 100 fly (1:05.50). Tipton took first in the 100

breaststroke (1:11.98) and was joined in the win column by Thorsness

in the 100 back (1:07.68).

Estancia’s Frank Gamboa set personal bests in winning the 50 free

(25.44) and taking second in the 100 free (55.59). Chad Kunert also

broke personal marks with a 2:04.44 in the 200 free [good for second]

while shaving six seconds off his previous-best time to finish second

in the 500 free (5:28.34).

Gamboa, Sean Goodman, Paul Collier and Kunert led the 200 free

relay team that took first in 1:43.69 for Estancia.