Mesa’s Thorsness claims three titles

Melanie Neff

Katie Thorsness had a banner day Thursday for the Costa Mesa High

girls swim team at the Golden West League finals at Orange High, but

in her eyes, it wasn’t enough.

The senior won titles in the 200- and 500-yard freestyles and swam

on the winning 200 medley relay. She also led off the 400 free relay

team, which won the race, but was disqualified when a swimmer left

the block early.

Despite taking home three titles, as well as leading the Mustangs

to the overall team title, Thorsness was disappointed.

“I didn’t swim as well as I could have,” Thorsness said. “And I

didn’t get CIF times.”

Thorsness, who led the entire way in the 200 free, lowered her

time by almost a second, finishing in 2:09.85, six seconds ahead of

the second-place swimmer. The CIF Southern Section consideration time

is 2:08.50.

In the 500 free, Thorsness again dominated the field, clocking a

5:53.51, more than seven seconds ahead of sophomore teammate Patricia

Shuppert, who finished second in 6:00.90. By the time Thorsness, who

posted a consideration time in the preliminaries, headed into the

final 100 yards, she lapped half the field.

“I wanted to get an automatic time,” she said. “But I don’t like

the wind. I breathe on every stroke and the wind really bothered my

throat today.”

Despite Thorsness’ performance, she lost out on the meet’s MVP

award to Westminster’s Heather Lucero, who won the 100 backstroke and

100 butterfly. Lucero swam a consideration time of 1:06.41 in the

butterfly.

Thorsness was happy with the team’s overall victory and credited

Coach Bob Shupp.

“Every year we have a different coach,” Thorsness said. “Coach

Shupp stayed this year and that really made a difference. We are a

really close team and we work really hard for each other.”

The Mustangs took home the team title by 33 points, despite giving

up 36 points to Orange in the 400 freestyle relay after their

disqualification. Costa Mesa finished with 344 points. Host Orange

was second with 311, followed by Westminster (214), Ocean View (208),

Estancia (188), Saddleback (171) and Santa Ana (53).

Estancia junior Marilyn Reich easily won the title in the 100

breaststroke, swimming a 1:17.42. Reich posted a 1:15.85 in the

preliminaries Tuesday, well ahead of the consideration mark of

1:17.50. Costa Mesa’s Allison Gravis took third in the breast in

1:19.20.

Reich was the top-seeded swimmer heading into the 200 individual

medley, but was upset by Costa Mesa sophomore Allyson Harris. Reich

was in sixth place after the butterfly leg, with Harris in second and

teammate Jessica Steenhard in first. Harris took the lead in the

backstroke, more than four seconds ahead of Reich, but Reich quickly

closed the gap in the breaststroke and took the lead with a time of

1:59.68 to Harris’ 1:59.93. But Reich ran out of gas in the freestyle

and Harris pulled away, taking the title in 2:33.75, topping her

personal best by more than four seconds. Reich finished second in

2:37.14. Gravis was third in 2:41.05 and Steenhard finished fourth in

2:41.70.

Harris also took third place in the 100 back in 1:11.70. Estancia

freshman Carolina Barnes was fourth in 1:12.71, the only Eagles’

swimmer besides Reich to place in the top eight in any event.

The Mustangs’ depth was what won them the meet. Even when they

didn’t win the race, they placed several swimmers in the top eight,

providing valuable points.

In the 100 freestyle, Jessica Bunnell (1:01.74), Sarah Bowman

(1:03.05) and Christine Twohig (1:03.86) placed third, fourth and

fifth, respectively, earning 45 points. In the 100 butterfly,

Shuppert was third, taking three seconds off her seed time in

1:08.52. Steenhard was fifth in 1:14.50. Bunnell (28.79) and Bowman

(28.81) were fourth and fifth in the 50 free.