CdM boys rise to occasion in finals

IRVINE — Corona del Mar High senior Brian Peotter stands 6-foot-6, but his reach at Friday’s Pacific Coast League swim finals at Beckman High was infinitely longer.

He set the new meet record in the 50-yard freestyle, at 21.69 seconds. He won the 100 free in 47.74 seconds, and he swam leadoff in the winning 400 freestyle relay. That relay, with teammates Michael Berry, R.J. Baldoni and Yutaro Yamashita, also set a new meet record of 3 minutes, 15.16 seconds.

Peotter, the boys’ swimmer of the meet, helped lead CdM to 499 points and its first boys’ swimming league championship since 1995.

The CdM girls tallied 438 points, finishing second behind University (557).

“Peotter’s our Kirk Gibson,” said CdM boys’ coach and L.A. Dodgers fan Barry O’Dea, referencing the former Dodgers slugger who hit a memorable home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. “He always comes through for me in the clutch.”

The parallel only went so far, likely stopped by a generation gap.

“I don’t even know who that is,” said Peotter, who was two months old at the time. “I’m an Angels fan. I’m going to the game tonight.

“This was just a really fun environment,” Peotter said. “I’m just really glad we have all these seniors out here. They did really well, even with senioritis and everything. I’m glad they all made it out here to be a part of today.”

That was true, especially in the 100 free, where seniors Peotter, Baldoni (48.58) and Berry (48.95) swept the top three spots, even though Berry was seeded seventh. The sweep gave CdM 53 points; the Sea Kings ended up beating second-place University by 33.

“We were really strong in freestyle this year,” said Baldoni, who was also second to Peotter in the 50 free. “Throughout the year, we’ve been going one-two-three in that race. This is just a dream come true. It’s been a while since CdM [boys] has been that competitive in swimming.”

Yamashita set a new league meet record by nearly two seconds in the 100 butterfly, swimming a personal-best time of 51.02 seconds. He also finished a close second to Charlie Rimkus of Beckman in the 200 free, in 1:42.11, shaving off over four seconds from his preliminary time.

Chris Cottrell finished second in the 100 backstroke for CdM, and third in the 200 individual medley. Michael Liao was third in the 100 breast, as was Bret Winners in the 500 free.

The CdM boys’ 200 freestyle relay team of Baldoni, Ryan Hultman, Cottrell and Berry out-touched University for a win in 1:30.53. The 200 medley relay team of Cottrell, Liao, Yamashita and Peotter was also victorious.

The Sea Kings girls, meanwhile, didn’t really have enough bodies to compete, with no girls in the finals of the 100 back or fly. Senior Stephanie Gabert did have a stellar day, winning the 500 freestyle (a season-best time of 5:02.12) and finishing second in the 200 free (a PR time of 1:53.46) to Beckman’s Tara Thomas, the girls’ swimmer of the meet.

Chelsea Pike, Sarah Furgatch, Heather Van Hiel and Gabert swam a 1:41.54 for second-place in the 200 free relay, their fastest time of the year by two seconds.

Furgatch won the 100 breast in a personal-best time of 1:07.38 and was second in the 500 free. Pike finished second in the 50 free and third in the 100 free in personal-best times of 24.94 and 53.54 seconds, respectively, and Kelsey Larson was second in the 200 IM (a personal-best 2:10.41) and third in the breast.

The personal bests made CdM girls’ coach Doug Volding hopeful for when the above swimmers and more will compete at the CIF Southern Section Division I meet. Preliminaries are Wednesday at Belmont Plaza, with finals May 11. Volding said he’ll see how his team, last year’s Division II champion, fares against Orange County powerhouses like Mission Viejo, Esperanza and Edison.

“All the credit today goes to the Uni coach and the Uni girls,” Volding said. “They did a tremendous job today and rose to the occasion.”

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