DAILY PILOT HIGH SCHOOL FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK:Beyaoju improves fast for Mesa

The 100-yard butterfly record was the oldest one on the books for the Costa Mesa High girls’ swim team.

But in her team’s most important meet of the season so far, Andrea Beyaoju came up the biggest.

Beyaoju broke that 100 fly record at cross-town rival Estancia on April 3, with a time of 1 minute, 1.54 seconds.

The time, a CIF Southern Section Division II automatic qualifying time, helped the Mustangs top the Eagles, 91-80, ending Estancia’s 42 dual-meet winning streak.

It also broke Dina Cannariato’s previous Mesa mark of 1:02.70, set in 1987.

Beyaoju, a sophomore, wasn’t born then. But the Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week continues to make her mark for Costa Mesa.

“I was really excited, like ‘Oh my gosh!’” Beyaoju said about breaking the record. “All my hard work and all these practices paid off.”

She is also known to those on the Costa Mesa High swim team as “Pucca,” for her supposed resemblance to a Japanese anime character.

“This girl, she was a senior last year, I had my hair in little pigtails and she said I looked like the anime character,” Beyaoju said. “So they decided to call me that. It’s just a fun thing.

“But my parents don’t like it,” she added with a laugh.

Her parents have to like her times, which keep getting lower and lower. She also won the 100 breaststroke against the Eagles. Her personal best in the event is 1:11.60, completed this season. That time is less than a half-second behind Wendy Martinovich’s school record of 1:11.12 set in 1998.

“I want to set the breaststroke record, too,” Beyaoju said.

Not bad for a sophomore, who Costa Mesa Coach Patty Smith said is one of the team’s hardest workers.

“She’s a perfectionist,” Smith said. “She’s never one I have to speak to in practice to get going and step it up. When I give her a stroke correction, she works on it diligently for the next couple of days. Probably three times a workout, she’s constantly asking me, ‘How’s my turn looking? How’s my stroke looking?’ ”

On a Mustangs team that features no seniors, Beyaoju is also a role model. She’s Costa Mesa’s loudest cheerer when her teammates are competing in their events.

“I just like cheering people on,” Beyaoju said. “I know when people cheer me on, I get really happy inside because I have support. I like cheering for them so they’ll go faster.”

Beyaoju, who swam for the Irvine AquaZots club in the past, has been swimming for about five years. In that time, she has already had plenty of success.

As a freshman, she was the Golden West League champion last May in the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke. Beyaoju went on to swim both events at the CIF Southern Section Division III meet, and finished 14th in the 100 breaststroke at Belmont Plaza.

Still, it would be a mistake to think she is already satisfied.

“I really want to get faster,” Beyaoju said. “My parents want me to get a scholarship in swimming, and they’ve been paying for club [swimming] all these years. I just want to prove to them I can do something good.”

In her rare spare time, she said she volunteers at Hoag Hospital. Beyaoju also plays water polo for the Mustangs, which she said helps her not get burned out in swimming.

“It’s just a side thing,” she said, adding that it helps her stay in good shape year-round.

In good shape like the surprising Mustangs, who are 4-0 in dual meets this season.

“The lower-level girls are constantly watching [Beyaoju], and she sets a great example for them,” Smith said. “She’s one of the ones who we can always count on.”

ANDREA BEYAOJU

Hometown: Costa Mesa

Born: December 18, 1990

Height: 5-foot-4

Sport: Swimming

Events: 100 butterfly, 100 breaststroke

Coach: Patty Smith

Favorite food: Sushi

Favorite movie: “Milan”

Favorite athletic moment: “When I broke the school record [in the 100 butterfly against Estancia on April 3].”

Week in review: Swam the 100 fly in 1 minute, 1.34 seconds, a new school record, helping the Mustangs end Estancia’s dual meet winning streak at 42. Also won the 100 breast.