Mustangs romp in league finale

Melanie Neff

The Costa Mesa High boys swim team set the tone in the first event

and swam away with the team title at the Golden West League finals on

Thursday at Orange High.

Evan Spencer, Kyle Thorsness, Brian Tipton and Adam Douglas opened

the meet in the 200-yard medley relay, dropping two seconds off their

preliminary time and earning an automatic berth in the CIF Southern

Section preliminaries with a time of 1:47.70.

The Mustangs fell behind early in the race after Thorsness had a

bad turn in the backstroke leg, but his teammates were quick to pick

up the slack. They got the lead in the butterfly and held off Orange

in the freestyle for the victory. The Panthers were second in

1:48.23, just missing an automatic qualifying time.

The victory gave Costa Mesa a 36-point lead out of the blocks, one

they didn’t relinquish. They went on to score 379 points, 110 points

more than second-place Orange (269). Saddleback was third (258),

followed by Estancia (191.5), Ocean View (152), Westminster (131.5)

and Santa Ana (123).

“My backstroker missed the turn because the flags are in a

different place here, so he was one and a half seconds slower than

normal,” Mustang Coach Bob Shupp said. “But we made up for it, and

he’ll make up for it in the backstroke.”

Thorsness, a freshman, did just that. After learning the flag

placement, he posted a Southern Section consideration time of 1:01.54

to win the 100 backstroke. Luke Yellin and Jarrad Clever were fifth

and sixth in the race for the Mustangs.

Estancia didn’t have a team title to brag about, but Frank Gamboa

gave them something to cheer for, when the senior put on a dazzling

performance in the 200 freestyle and gave the team one of its two

titles on the day.

Trailing Costa Mesa’s Evan Spencer by .04 seconds in the final 50

yards, Gamboa dug deep in the final turn and blasted off the wall,

defeating Spencer by almost two seconds in a time of 1:56.42. Spencer finished in 1:58.49. Gamboa’s time was more than a second better than

the consideration time of 1:58.

“I just didn’t let up at all coming off the wall in the last 50,”

Gamboa said. “I realized I was ahead in the last lap so I just went

faster.”

Gamboa tried to take home his second title in the 500 freestyle,

but freshman teammate Chad Kunert, decided he wanted to share in some

of the glory and ousted Gamboa with a time of 5:16.46. Gamboa, who

ran out of gas in the final 50 yards, finished second in 5:17.95.

Both times were well below the consideration time of 5:25.

Costa Mesa got one other individual title when freshman Adam

Douglas knocked off top-seeded Ted Sewell of Orange in the 100

freestyle. Sewell was swimming with a taped-up hand after banging it

on the wall in another event. Douglas took advantage. He swam a 24.15

split time and finished in 51.29, just edging Sewell’s time of 51.36.

Thorsness was third in 52.09.

Despite the win, Douglas was discouraged.

“I wanted to get an automatic time,” he said. “It’s great to win,

but I could have done better.”

Douglas’ time bested the consideration time of 53.00. He also

finished third in the 50 free in 23.44, also a consideration time.

“I don’t think it will be good enough,” Douglas said. “But we are

really happy with how the team did. We worked really hard all year

long for this.”

Tipton had a strong day for the Mustangs, taking second place in

the 100 breast in 1:06.85, an automatic qualifying time. He also

finished second in the 200 IM (2:18.67). Unfortunately, he swam

against the meet’s MVP in both races, Orange’s Phillip Pease.

Pease won the 100 breast in 1:05.74 and the 200 IM in 2:15.07.

Costa Mesa’s Mark Geil was third in the 100 breast in 1:09.24.

Spencer, Sergio Hernandez, Thorsness and Douglas closed out the

meet for the Mustangs with a dominant swim in the 400 free relay, as

the group posted a consideration time of 3:35.48, more than 12

seconds ahead of second place Saddleback.