Newport Hills wins SCSC finals

It takes team depth to win an event that features six different squads, and when the South Coast Swim Conference held it’s Finals swim meet this past Saturday, August 1st at Corona del Mar High School, that was the quality that separated the Newport Hills Killer Whales from all others.

Each team had their stars, but to win a Finals meet, it is important to not only place as many swimmers as possible in the top six point earnings slots, it is also imperative to do well in the Relays, where the winning points are high, and each group is dependent on four different swimmers. Of the twenty-four relay events, Newport Hills swam to first place finishes in eight of those events, and were second in six others. Green Valley, Harbor View and Pacific Sands each won four relay events, while Lake Forest grabbed three and Greenbrook one.

The 7-8 Boys group had the traditional five individual events, plus the two relays, with the Killer Whales only taking first place in one of those five individual events. However, Newport Hills won the 7-8 Boys division by 22.5 points by taking 1st, 3rd and 4th in the 25 Freestyle, 2nd and 4th in the 25 Breaststroke, 3rd in the 25 Butterfly, 2nd and 5th in the 25 Backstroke, 3rd and 4th in the 50 Freestyle and by winning the 100 Freestyle Relay and taking second in the 100 Medley Relay.

Newport Hills earned the most points in the Under 6 Boys, the 7-8 Girls, the 7-8 Boys, the 9-10 Boys, and the 13-14 Boys. In addition, even though the 9-10 Killer Whale girls took third and the 13-14 girls were sixth, the 9-10 and 13-14 Killer Whale Boys were so strong in their wins, that Newport Hills won both the 9-10 and 13-14 combined age group scores. The Under 6 Girls were second in their division by only 4 points, and with the first place Under 6 Boys, they helped the Killer Whales win the Combined Under 6 division too.

The 13-14 Boys Killer Whales won all five individual stroke events in addition to winning the Medley Relay and coming in second in their Freestyle Relay. The foursome of Christian Garkani, Nick Furgatch, Blake Motal and Reid Chase started the meet off with a new South Coast Swim Conference (SCSC) record and new team record of 1:48.88 in the Medley Relay, breaking the old meet time set at last year’s Finals of 1:51.31 by Harbor View swimmers Marks, Berry, Bandaruk and English. The Medley record was just the beginning of a monster meet for Christian Garkani who then went on to win the 100 Freestyle with a new SCSC Finals meet record of 51.35, breaking the record of 51.50 set last year by Harbor View’s Matt Berry, then setting a new meet record in the 50 Butterfly with a time of 25.11, beating the old record of 25.71 set in 2003 by Sean Robbins and finishing the day with a first place new meet and team record in the 100 Individual Medley with a time of 57.42, beating the old SCSC meet record of 59.38 set in 2003 by Sean Robbins and his own team record of 58.81 set in June of this year.

Brett Greenlee was also a three-time winner in individual events for Newport Hills, as he won the 50 Freestyle, the 50 Butterfly and the 50 Backstroke in the 11-12 Boys division, while Killer Whales Chloe Harbilas, who won the 25 Freestyle and 50 Freestyle for the 7-8 Girls, and Speedy Laster, who won the 25 Freestyle and the 25 Backstroke, were two-time winners.

Individual event winners for the Killer Whales included Lauren Hughes (25 Freestyle) and Bianca Bays (25 Butterfly) in the Under 6 Girls, Tommy Bethel (25 Butterfly) in the Under 6 Boys, Sophie Wallace (25 Breaststroke) in the 7-8 Girls, Jake Bays (25 Freestyle) in the 7-8 Boys, JT Russell (50 Backstroke) in the 9-10 Boys, Brianna Daboub (who set a new team record in her 50 Backstroke win with a time of 31.86) in the 11-12 Girls, Danny Robertson (50 Breaststroke) in the 11-12 Boys, Nick Furgatch (who broke the old team record of 30.69 in the 50 Breaststroke set by Morgan Johnston in 1997 with a time of 30.65) and Blake Motal (50 Backstroke) in the 13-14 Boys.

Green Valley was led by their 9-10 Girls, who won all five individual events, as well as their two relays. Lauren Wong won both the 50 Freestyle and 50 Breaststroke, and Carly Perri had a huge day as a three-time event winner for the Dolphins, setting new SCSC records in each of her three wins. In the 25 Butterfly she set a new SCSC record with a time of 13.99, breaking the old SCSC meet record of 14.31 set in 2006 by Green Valley Dolphin Jaime Dang. Her 50 Backstroke winning time of 31.87 broke the old SCSC record of 33.10 set in 2006 by Harbor View’s Ellen Naruse and her 100 Individual Medley time of 1:09.7 broke the 2006 meet record also set by Green Valley swimmer Jaime Dang of 1:11.05.

Cassie Koger (25 Butterfly and 25 Backstroke) in the 7-8 Girls and Anh Huynh (50 Breaststroke and 100 individual Medley) in the 13-14 Girls were both two-time winners for Green Valley, and additional winners for the Green Valley squad in individual events were Kevin Francis (100 Individual Medley) in the 11-12 Boys, Merri Lightbody (50 Backstroke) in the 13-14 Girls, Joshua Kloppenburg (50 Breaststroke), Peter Nguyen (50 Backstroke) and Kevin Miller (100 Individual Medley) in the 15-18 Boys.

The Pacific Sands Penguins also had two swimmers setting new SCSC Finals meet records. In the 15-18 Girls, three-time individual event winner Kierstin Colesen (100 Freestyle, 50 Butterfly and 100 Individual Medley) set a new time of 52.74 in the 100 Freestyle, breaking the old meet record of 54.41 that she set in 2007, and two-time individual event winner Billy May (50 Freestyle and 25 Butterfly) in the 9-10 Boys swam a time of 27.84 in the 50 Freestyle breaking the old meet record of 28.08 set in 2008 by Harbor View’s Timmy Hanson. T-Bone Whitmore (25 Backstroke and 50 Freestyle) was a two-time winner in the 7-8 Boys for the Penguins, and Natalie May (50 Breaststroke) in the 11-12 Girls and Troy Edwards (50 Butterfly) in the 15-18 Boys were individual event winners for Pacific Sands.

Kyle Reilly (50 Breaststroke and 100 Individual Medley) in the 9-10 Boys and Taylor Johnson (100 Freestyle and 50 Butterfly) in the 13-14 Girls were two-time winners in individual events for the Greenbrook Gators, and Rebecca Aguilar (50 Freestyle and 100 Individual Medley) in the 11-12 Girls was a two-time winner for the Lake Forest II Dolphins. Additional individual event winners for Lake Forest II were Nolan Bell (25 Breaststroke) in the Under 6 Boys, Catherine Aguilar (50 Breaststroke) and Taylor Adair (50 Backstroke) in the 15-18 Girls and Adrian Moreno (100 Freestyle) in the 15-18 Boys.

Winners in individual events for the Harbor View Dolphins were Megan Chelf (25 Breaststroke) and Reece Garbutt (25 Backstroke) in the Under 6 Girls, Luke Chelf (25 Breaststroke) and Alexander Taxman (25 Butterfly) in the 7-8 Boys and Madalyn Ruiz (50 Butterfly) in the 11-12 Girls.

Newport Hills finishes the 2009 swim season undefeated in the League for the third straight season, winners of the Relay Finals Meet and now First in the South Coast Swim Conference Championship Meet.

South Coast Swim Conference Championship--Final Score

Newport Hills Killer Whales (NHST) 1,676

Harbor View Dolphins (HVST) 1,460

Green Valley Dolphins (GVST) 1,304

Lake Forest II Dolphins (LFII) 1,105

Greenbrook Gators (GBST) 924.50

Pacific Sands Penguins (PSST_SO) 840.50