Mesa sweeps Orange Coast finals

LAGUNA BEACH — As events kept passing in Thursday’s Orange Coast League swim finals, the Costa Mesa High girls stayed close.

With their superiority in the backstroke and breaststroke, that was all they had to do — stay close and wait for their chance.

When the meet ended, the Costa Mesa girls had pulled ahead and won, scoring 342 points compared to 313 for Laguna Beach and 312 for Estancia.

But it was the whole team that jumped in the pool with Coach Patty Smith and celebrated. The Mustangs’ boys, who didn’t lose a dual meet in the league season, also led throughout the league finals and finished with 327 points, handily beating Laguna Beach.

“We scored 51 points on the breaststroke alone for the varsity girls,” Smith noted. Andrea Beyaoju won the 100-yard race in 1 minute, 12.33 seconds, while teammate Breanna Williams was second and Hannah Spear third, with Kayci Decker placing fifth for Mesa.

Beyaoju also easily won the 200 individual medley.

Mesa also got 41 points on the boys’ 100 breaststroke, with Dane Shambrook, Travis Wright and Chingiz Bigalimov sweeping the top three spots.

“That’s kind of what we knew would happen,” Smith said. “What also helped us was that Laguna Beach took points away from Estancia early in the meet. Where Estancia had strength, like in the [girls’] 100 free, Laguna Beach swept it. They took one-two-three in the 100 free, which moved Estancia down and opened the door for us to get in there.”

For the Costa Mesa boys, last year’s Golden West League champions, the transition to a new league was a success. The Mesa girls, featuring no varsity seniors, bettered Estancia, which had won the Golden West League title the past two years.

John Roche and Danny Moreno, the two Mesa boys’ seniors, made sure their last meet was a success. Roche, in particular, was strong, leading off the winning 200 medley relay and finishing second in the 100 butterfly.

He also won one of the most exciting races of the day, out-touching Estancia’s Jeff Crosson in the 100 back to win in a personal-best time of 1:01.51.

“He almost got me, he did really well and anyone could have won,” Roche said. “ … It’s just a great feeling, winning league. I’m just so proud of my teammates this year. They all worked their [behinds] off, and they made my last year really special.”

Mustang junior Sam Edman, meanwhile, led off the winning 200 and 400 free relays. He also won the 200 and 500 freestyles in CIF Southern Section Division II consideration times of 1:46.67 and 4:56.21, respectively.

“It’s league finals, that’s what it’s all about,” Edman said. “It’s about pushing yourself to the limit, giving everything you’ve got. I’m proud of our team. It’s a new league, and there was a lot of competition this year. I just give credit to the people who helped me do my best, who pushed me.”

James Fowler repeated as 50 free league champion and was second in the 100 free for the Mustangs, anchoring both winning freestyle relays.

On the girls’ side, Costa Mesa, Estancia and Laguna Beach had all lost a league dual meet during the season, leaving the league finals up in the air. But the Mustangs girls were able to rebound from last week’s dual meet loss at Laguna Beach, with Patricia Marty repeating as league champ in the 100 fly.

Estancia did benefit from several strong performances, including those of junior Shea Kopp. She led off the winning 200 medley relay team, and her winning times of 24.88 seconds in the 50 free and 59.58 in the 100 back are both easily CIF automatic times.

Kopp said the time in the 100 back was a personal-best, while she was just 0.1 seconds off a personal-best in the 50 free.

“We were nervous, especially compared to years before,” said Kopp of the Estancia girls, who also saw Mesa snap their 42 dual-meet winning streak on April 3. “We’ve never really had this competition. People haven’t really felt this much pressure, unless they’ve been to CIF … It was anybody’s game.”

Eagles girls’ coach Bob Bandaruk was diplomatic.

“Everybody had their personal-best times, so I can’t complain,” he said. “Mesa earned it. They did well.”

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or at matthew.szabo@latimes.com.

Orange Coast League finals200 medley relay -- 1. Costa Mesa (Roche, Shambrook, C. Serrano, D. Serrano), 1:52.32.

BOYS

1. Costa Mesa, 327 points; 2. Laguna Beach, 264; 3. Estancia, 160, 4. Calvary Chapel 80

200 free -- 1. Edman (CM), 1:46.67; 2. McConnel (LB), 1:48.98; 3. Roe (CC), 1:51.41.

200 IM -- 1. Twohig (CM), 2:12.59; 2. C. Serrano (CM), 2:13.41; 3. Crosson (E), 2:15.82.

50 free -- 1. Fowler (CM), 22.62; 2. Roe (CC), 22.83; 3. Head (LB), 22.95.

100 fly -- 1. Roe (CC), 56.31; 2. Roche (CM), 57.53; 3. Twohig (CM), 59.58.

100 free -- 1. Roe (CC), 49.49; 2. Fowler (CM), 49.93; 3. Head (LB), 50.39.

500 free -- 1. Edman (CM), 4:56.21; 2. McConnel (LB), 5:03.31; 3. Tippol (CC), 5:03.41.

200 free relay -- 1. Costa Mesa (Edman, Twohig, Wright, Fowler), 1:32.85.

100 back -- 1. Roche (CM), 1:01.51; 2. Crosson (E), 1:01.72; 3. C. Serrano (CM), 1:06.52.

100 breast -- 1. Shambrook (CM), 1:08.04; 2. Wright (CM), 1:12.32; 3. Bigalimov (CM), 1:14.96.

400 free relay -- 1. Costa Mesa (Edman, Twohig, Wright, Fowler), 3:26.38.

GIRLS200 medley relay -- 1. Estancia (Kopp, Peters, Kunert, Barloon), 2:00.54.

1. Costa Mesa, 342; 2. Laguna Beach, 313; 3. Estancia, 312

200 free -- 1. Wild (LB), 1:55.49; 2. Dries (LB), 1:58.13; 3. Kunert (E), 2:04.18.

200 IM -- 1. Beyaoju (CM), 2:21.90; 2. Duplisea (LB), 2:32.72; 3. Peters (E), 2:35.88.

50 free -- 1. Kopp (E), 24.88; 2. Dodson (LB), 26.07; 3. Shulman (LB), 26.34.

100 fly -- 1. Marty (CM), 1:03.93; 2. Roche (CM), 1:14.23; 3. S. Parsons (E), 1:17.86.

100 free -- 1. Dries (LB), 55.07; 2. Dodson (LB), 56.71; 3. Shulman (LB), 58.02.

500 free -- 1. Wild (LB), 5:03.71; 2. Kunert (E), 5:36.74; 3. Nuñez (CM), 6:06.13.

200 free relay -- 1. Laguna Beach, 1:43.57.

100 back -- 1. Kopp (E), 59.58; 2. Marty (CM), 1:06.26; 3. Randall (CM), 1:10.31.

100 breast -- 1. Beyaoju (CM), 1:12.33; 2. Williams (CM), 1:14.89; 3. Speer (CM), 1:18.84.

400 free relay -- 1. Laguna Beach, 3:47.08.