Trying everything on

Mike Sciacca

It’s nearly mid-summer and Katherine “Kat” Gordon and Breanna

Duplisea have certainly endured “those hazy, crazy days of summer”

that the hit 1960s Nat King Cole song promises.

It’s been anything but “lazy,” though, as the same song suggests.

Gordon, 17, a senior this fall, and Duplisea, 16, heading into her

sophomore year, have been busy playing summer water polo for the

Breakers and at the start of this week ran straight into the

cross-country training season.

Although the two have been in a haze and a bit crazed because of a

full summer practice and game schedule, cross training between the

two sports will be beneficial to the pair as they continue to prepare

for the Pacific Coast Triathlon on July 25.

The competition is in its seventh year and will be held at Crystal

Cove State Park, between Laguna Beach and Corona del Mar.

The two are required to complete a half-mile ocean swim, 15-mile

bike ride and three-mile run.

It will be the third triathlon competition for Duplisea -- all

done in the past 10 months -- and the second for Gordon.

The July 25 event will mark the second time the two have competed

in the same triathlon.

In May, the two competed in a triathlon in Newport Beach.

“It’s going to be challenging, that’s for sure, but I’m really

excited about it,” Duplisea said of the Pacific Coast Triathlon. “Kat

and I will be training hard this next week.”

As if the two haven’t been busy enough.

Gordon and Duplisea have become friends through competing in the

same sports programs at Laguna Beach High.

The two are on the same girls’ cross country, water polo and swim

teams.

Both were on Laguna’s cross-country team that reached the state

meet, and Gordon was all-CIF in the sport.

The two also were key figures on Laguna’s water polo team that

reached the Division II final four. Each earned all-Pacific Coast

League and all-CIF Southern Section Division II honors.

During the 2004 swim season, Duplisea set a school record in the

200 individual medley and was part of a school record-setting 4 x 100

free relay team.

The two have been submerged in the summer water polo season since

the end of the 2003-04 school year. Adding to an early-morning

practice schedule is a five-games-per-week schedule, as well as a

tournament-filled weekend slate.

The two added to their training regimen by routinely running

together, and that was before the start of Monday’s cross-country

training with the school team.

They jump from one practice session to the other on most days.

“We both do all of this because we love it,” Gordon said. “I love

to be doing something all of the time, love the competition, and I

know Breanna does, too. It’s a great way to meet people and make

friends.

“We both decided to do a triathlon last fall, but a muscle tear

prevented me from entering that first triathlon. Breanna went ahead

and entered and completed the triathlon, anyway. She did a great

job.”

Their competitive side has both Gordon and Duplisea hoping to

better their previous best time in a triathlon on July 25. Both,

however, know that different triathlon courses create different

environments, which might not result in better times.

The Pacific Coast Triathlon will offer competitors a challenging

course with a swim in an ocean current, biking on a hill and running

on a one-mile stretch of sand.

“We’re doing this for the fun of it,” Duplisea said. “Of course,

we want to do well, but this triathlon will be challenging.

“Kat and I started out doing these triathlons together last fall,

and now we’re trying to get some of our other friends to give them a

try. I can see myself doing them when I get older, too.”