Mustangs reach CIF finals

Chris Yemma

The Costa Mesa High boys swim team used a multi-purpose razor Friday,

shaving their bodies prior to entering the CIF Southern Section

Division III preliminaries at Belmont Plaza, and shaving time off

their races.

A deliberate strategy, junior Kyle Thorsness, senior Adam Douglas

and senior Evan Spencer let their follicles flourish heading into

last week’s Golden West League finals in the expectation of sleeking

down for CIF prelims and finals.

It worked, as Douglas qualified third in the 200-yard freestyle

(1:45.52) and fourth in the 100 free (48.18); Thorsness qualified

fourth in the 50 free (22.14) and sixth in the 100 free (48.64);

Spencer qualified sixth in the 100 butterfly (53.64); and the 200 and

400 free relay teams of all three, plus freshman James Fowler,

grabbed the No. 2 spot and No. 3 spot, respectively.

Meanwhile, Estancia freshman Shea Kopp qualified for today’s

championship finals -- at 10 a.m. at the same venue -- in her

respective events, while also helping lead a relay team to

championship qualification status.

Douglas, coming off 100 and 200 free league titles and Most

Valuable Swimmer of the Meet honors, sliced nearly two seconds off of

his seed time in the 200 free, while Thorsness skimmed almost one

second off in the 100 free.

“We’re all shaved up now, and this is the best we’ve ever raced,”

Thorsness said, pumping his fist after learning he qualified for the

championship final in the 100 free. “I was expecting a little drop

[in time] because we didn’t shave for league, so I’m really happy.”

Douglas was equally pleased, though he said he is expecting to cut

even more time off at today’s finals.

“I improved my times, but I’m hoping to do better [today],” he

said. “I’m hoping to drop another second [today] in the 100 [free].

My goal is to get top three in all my events.”

The Mustangs had the second-best seed time in the 200 free relay

entering the prelims, and they are in the same position entering the

finals. Both Murrieta Valley and Costa Mesa dropped their times in

the event, with the Nighthawks clocking in at 1:27.20, just shy of

the meet record.

After Mesa finished the race in Heat 3, the relay team members

observed Murrieta Valley’s race in Heat 4.

“If we push ourselves enough, we can beat them,” Douglas said.

The foursome teamed together at the end of the day to qualify

third in the 400 free relay (3:18.79).

“We purposely planned for them not to shave before the league

finals,” Mustangs Coach Tim Postiff said. “[Douglas] and [Thorsness]

shaved good time off their races. We knew that we had a good

opportunity to do well in the relays, as well as individually, so

they decided that’s what they wanted to do.”

Kopp lead the Eagles’ prelims push, qualifying second in the 50

free (25.07) and third in the 100 backstroke (1:00.89). She also

anchored the third-place qualifying 200 free relay team (1:44.92),

composed of sophomore Sydney Barloon, junior Carolina Barnes and

freshman Meagan Kunert.

“It’s so cool -- I never thought I could get this far,” Kopp said.

“Obviously I did really well so I’m happy. I’m going to do my best

[today] hopefully to stay up with the first-place person and I want

to try and be there in the end.”

Costa Mesa’s Annie Le qualified for the consolation finals in the

100 breaststroke in the 16th spot, and Spencer made the consolation

cut in the 200 individual medley in the 10th spot.

Estancia’s Kunert qualified 14th for the consolation finals in the

500 free, while the Eagles’ 200 medley relay team of Kopp, Kunert,

Barloon and junior Susan Cloud grabbed the 13th spot for the

consolation finals.

The top eight qualifiers advance to the championship finals while

the ninth through 16th qualifiers advance to the consolation finals.