Peirsol is second in 800 free event

Hayley Peirsol, a former Newport Harbor High standout, grabbed second

place in the 800-meter freestyle on Thursday, the first day of the

Janet Evans invitational at the Charter All-Digital Aquatic Center in

Long Beach.

Peirsol, who has already qualified for the Olympic trials in the

event, finished in 8 minutes, 35.06 seconds, behind Kalyn Keller, who

touched the wall at 8:31.97.

Corona del Mar sophomore Lexie Shue finished 32nd in 8:59.64.

This was Peirsol’s tuneup for the Olympic trials, which are also

in Long Beach, July 7-14. Peirsol, a distance freestyler attending

Auburn University, has also qualified in the 400 free and 400

individual medley.

Lawler finishes second

* TRIATHLON: Newport Harbor High freshman Scott Lawler battled

through ocean currents, steep hills and a numbing body to place

second in the men’s under-16 age group at the Escape from Alcatraz

Triathlon Sunday in San Francisco.

His time was two hours, 58 minutes.

Lawler, 15, who was on Newport’s freshmen swimming, water polo and

volleyball teams, was among the roughly 1,500 competitors who jumped

into the 59-degree water of San Francisco Bay to begin the 1 1/2-mile

swim. A a half-mile run and an 18-mile bicycle ride followed.

Lawler, who has completed two Pacific Coast triathlons and one

Newport Beach triathlon, finished the swim portion in 29:40, the run

in 1:11.03 and the bike in 1:09.40 in San Francisco.

Biking up some of San Francisco’s steepest hills proved the most

difficult task for Lawler.

“I barely had enough speed to keep going,” Lawler said. “During

the bike ride, I had thoughts about stopping. It was the hardest

thing in my entire life. I just wanted to get it over with. It was

such a big accomplishment.”

-- Bryce Alderton

Injury derails Turpin

* TRACK AND FIELD: UC Irvine senior Annmarie Turpin pulled out of

the heptathlon due to injury with two events remaining in the NCAA

track and field championships Thursday at Austin, Texas.

Turpin was in 25th place with 2,928 points after the first four

events Wednesday. She recorded a mark of 15 feet, 6 1/4 inches in the

long jump, which was Thursday’s first event, before withdrawing with

a pulled quadriceps in her right leg prior to the javelin throw and

800-meter run.

She sustained a right hamstring injury four weeks ago in the midst

of the heptathlon at the Big West Conference championships.

Turpin ranks fourth all-time at UCI in the heptathlon with a total

of 5,332 points recorded at the Mt. SAC relays in April.

Turpin also ranks in the Anteaters’ top 10 in three other events.

She finished 21st in the heptathlon at the 2003 NCAA championships

and was 13th in the pentathlon at this year’s NCAA indoor

championships.

Ducks down two foes

* ROLLER HOCKEY: Dylon Gravelle scored a double hat trick -- six

goals -- in one game to lead the Ducks to a 6-3 victory over the

Rangers in sixth-grade roller hockey action.

Gravelle scored five in the first half and goaltender Logan Newett

stopped all Ranger scoring chances.

Mike Do had multiple shots on goal for the Ducks.

The Ducks also received goals from six players to defeat the

Kings, 8-2.

Hannah Toohey and Travis Whitlock had two goals apiece and Newett,

Gravelle, Daniel Netzer and Jared Cassidy also scored for the

winners.