Star formula: just add water

Barry Faulkner

Andrew Cole will always be the answer to a great trivia question, but

his three-year swim career at Newport Harbor High leaves a legacy

that is anything but trivial.

The question? Who won the Sea View League championship in the

100-yard backstroke during Aaron Peirsol’s senior year?

The answer? Cole, of course, taking advantage of the absence of

three-time world and four-time CIF Southern Section Division I

backstroke champion Peirsol, Cole’s Sailor and Irvine Novaquatics

teammate, who skipped league finals in 2002 to be interviewed for a

television program in the Bahamas.

Cole provided plenty of answers for Coach Jason Lynch upon

arriving from Utah the summer before his sophomore year.

After winning multiple state titles and setting scores of

age-group records in the Beehive State, Cole created an immediate and

lingering buzz at the Newport pool.

That buzz culminated this spring with a CIF Southern Section

Division I title in the 100 backstroke (51.50), which added to his

2002 CIF Division I title in the 100 freestyle (46.15). He also

contributed to CIF Division I victories in the 200 free relay (2002)

and the 400 free relay (2002 and 2001).

Another highlight would be his key role in the Sailors’ team title

at the CIF Division I finals in 2002. It remains the lone CIF team

championship in the program’s history.

Cole, who will head back to his native state to compete for the

University of Utah as a collegian, also claimed five Sea View League

individual titles and contributed to five league relay champions in

three varsity seasons.

He was third in the 100 free at the 2003 CIF Division I finals

(46.20), having tapered for the previous week’s Sea View League

finals, when the Tars’ inspired bid to end eight-time defending

league champion Irvine’s title run fell short by a mere 7 1/2 points.

Cole’s contribution helped the Sailors’ 200 free relay finish 12th

and the 400 free relay finish 14th in CIF Division I in 2003.

The 2003 league finals brought Cole titles in the 200 individual

medley (1:59.11) and the 100 backstroke (54.05, more than four

seconds faster than the runner-up).

Teaming with Nathan Weiner, Sean McGhie and Michael Bury, Cole

helped the Sailors win league in the 200 free relay (1:29.70). And,

the combination of Cole, Bury, Weiner and Ross Sinclair topped the

Sea View field in the 400 free relay (3:16.49) in 2003.

Cole won the aforementioned league backstroke title in 2002 in

53.56, while keeping his season-long unbeaten streak in the 100 free

with a league-title-winning time of 48.21.

Cole was also on the winning 200 and 400 free relay league

champions as a junior.

Also at the CIF Division I finals in 2002, he was second to

Peirsol in the 100 backstroke, and led off on victorious 200 and 400

free relay quartets.

The unit of Cole, Ryan Lean, Weiner and Peirsol posted a 400 free

relay time of 3:07.11, taking nearly three seconds off the

school-record time set by the 2001 CIF 400 free relay champion

quartet of Cole, Lean, Peirsol and Peter Belden.

Cole won the Sea View 100 free crown in 2001 as a sophomore, when

he was also second in the 100 backstroke. He was on the 400 free

relay that finished second and the 200 medley relay that finished

third at the 2001 league finals.

At the 2001 CIF Division I finals, he was fourth in the 100

backstroke (51.66) and fifth in the 100 free (47.88).