CdM seals 2nd title

Bryce Alderton

This year, the Corona del Mar High girls swimming team entered the

Pacific Coast League finals with the proverbial bull’s-eye tattooed

to its back as the team other squads targeted.

Maybe the recognition pushed the Sea Kings to swim faster, senior

Vivian Liao said.

The Sea Kings swam faster, for the most part, and capped an

undefeated season with their second consecutive league title

following Friday’s finals at Laguna Beach High.

CdM, which went 4-0 in league dual meets this season, tallied

562.5 points, 62.5 more than second-place University.

CdM sophomore Lexie Shue repeated as league champion in both the

200-yard individual medley (2:07.18) and 500 free (4:56.37) while

participating on winning 200 medley and 400 free relay teams.

CdM won all three relays, beating its prelim times in the 200

medley and 200 free races.

Shue, named the girls swimmer of the meet, broke her own league

record in the 500, set during Tuesday’s preliminaries (4:56.37) and

earned All-American status.

“I could see the splits on the clock every time I looked up, so I

just tried to keep my splits down,” Shue said about the 500. “You

have to go in with a positive attitude because it is a long event.

You have to believe if you want to achieve.”

The CdM boys finished fourth (245 points) out of five teams, but

several strong showings with a young squad gave Coach Mike Evans

optimism for the future.

Junior Bryan Buhagiar placed second in the 100 backstroke (56.73)

to University’s Soliman Eid (54.59) and swam a leg on CdM’s

fifth-place 200 medley and 400 free relay teams.

Junior Spencer Pirdy took seventh in the 50 free (23.80) and 11th

in the 100 free (52.91), both personal bests, and was one of eight

CdM swimmers to shave time off from the prelims.

“We set personal goals since a number of kids didn’t get points

from the preliminaries,” Evans said. “They all swam good times.”

Times continued to drop on the girls side, as well.

CdM sophomore Ashley Chandler took .13 seconds off her prelim time

to win the 50 free (25.10), touching just in front of University’s

Katelyn Schumacher (25.18) while Liao placed fourth in 26.40 and

Katya Eadington took fifth in 26.38.

Freshman Stephanie Gabert won the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.45,

while teammate Tumua Anae (1:10.24) took second. Gabert finished

second to Shue in the 200 individual medley (2:10.68) while senior

Kim McKay placed second in the 500 free (5:16.88). McKay also took

third in the 200 free (1:58.06).

Jordan Anae tied with Tesoro’s Amanda Bebout for second in the 100

backstroke (1:01.86).

Chandler (53.91) and Liao (55.54) placed third and fourth,

respectively, in the 100 free while sophomore Jackie Duzac and

freshman Katie Indvik placed fifth (1:02.34) and seventh (1:06.03),

respectively, in the 100 butterfly. Brittney Wigley finished seventh

in the 500 free (5:50.22), displaying CdM’s depth.

Tom Money took fifth in the 200 free (1:55.34) while Thomas

Pearson placed eighth (2:01.30) for the CdM boys. Blake Schoenberg

won the consolation final in the same event in 1:56.95. Robbie Fries,

Michael Berry and Trevor Gladych all improved on their prelim times.

Unlike last year’s finals when the CdM girls defeated University

by just eight points after winning the 400 free relay, CdM this time

had the meet wrapped up heading into the final event.

CdM Coach Doug Volding could exhale.

“I was not overconfident coming into this one,” said Volding, in

his 20th year at the helm. “I knew [University], as always, was going

to push us. I was more cautious with this group [than last year], but

it showed I didn’t need to be. These girls took charge from the

start.”

Thirteen CdM girls qualified for Friday’s CIF Southern Section

Division II preliminaries at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach in search of

a team title after last year’s second-place finish.

“That is what we’ve been working toward all year,” Liao said.