Eagles standout breaks minute barrier at CIF meet

LONG BEACH ? After Estancia High sophomore Shea Kopp’s qualifying swim in the 100-yard backstroke at the CIF Southern Section Division III preliminaries Thursday, she had a hunch there was a better mark in her.

Saturday, she found it. Despite swimming the anchor leg on the 200 freestyle relay just minutes earlier, Kopp came back to swim a personal-best 59.99 seconds in the backstroke to take third place in the Division III finals Saturday at Belmont Plaza. Her mark was likely enough to qualify for the Southern Section Masters Meet on Tuesday.

Immediately after the relay final, Kopp went outside the stuffy plaza to take in the fresh ocean air. Re-energized, she came back inside for the backstroke final.

“I was a little short of breath after the relay, so I went outside and got a breath of fresh air,” Kopp said. “I came back in and I felt pretty good.”

After the race, Kopp scanned the other divisional results in the 100 backstroke to gauge whether she had done enough to advance to the Masters Meet.

“I think I have a good shot at getting in,” Kopp said.

Kopp also has a chance to advance to the Masters Meet in the 50 freestyle after taking fifth with a time of 25.07 in the finals, bettering her time of 25.39 in the prelims.

“I still want a 24. I’m disappointed in that regard, but I still took fifth and improved my time, so that’s good,” Kopp said.

The sophomore might also reach the Masters Meet as part of the 200 medley relay team with Sydney Barloon, Carolina Barnes and Meagan Kunert. The Eagles relay took sixth place in the finals with a time of 1:44.60.

Kunert also took 12th in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:29.12.

Estancia Coach Bob Bandurak said he is confident Kopp will get in the Masters Meet in both of her individual events.

“Oh yeah, she’ll be in both,” Bandurak said. “And that was our season-best time in the relay. I’m hoping we’ll advance in that as well.”

Kopp’s performance catapulted the Estancia girls to a 13th-place finish overall with 79 points.

The Costa Mesa girls took 29th place overall with 11 points, spurred on by freshman Andrea Beyoaju’s 14th-place finish in the 100 breaststroke at 1:14.59 and sophomore Patricia Marty’s 15th-place finish in the 100 butterfly at 1:05.22.

Estancia’s Andrew Fassari was the lone area boys’ participant in the Division III finals. Fassari took fifth in the consolation final of the 100 butterfly, swimming 55.90 seconds to place 13th overall.