Girls’ Swim: Merrell is CdM’s freshman phenom

She’s only about a month into her high school swimming career, but Corona del Mar High freshman Eva Merrell is already doing the limbo with the times on the CdM record board.

How low can she go? Nobody knows, not even Merrell.

Just know that her events make for must-see viewing every time Merrell gets into the water.

At her very first high school meet on March 14, Merrell swam the leadoff leg at the Capistrano Valley Relays and went a 50.44 in the 100-yard freestyle, which broke the school record of 51.21 set by Stephania Haralabidis two years ago. At her first dual meet, at Irvine on March 25, Merrell set school records in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke. Merrell’s time of 54.26 in the fly lowered Brynne Wong’s mark of 54.38 from 2012, while her time of 56.20 in the backstroke bettered Haralabidis’ mark of 57.74.

“No surprises over here,” tweeted Wong, this year’s Big 12 Conference champion in the 100 fly, who helped the University of Texas win the conference title and finish seventh at NCAAs. “She’s a stud.”

Merrell continues to electrify. She lowered those records in the fly and back on Wednesday in a key Pacific Coast League meet at Woodbridge. Then, with the meet on the line at the end, Merrell again delivered. She swam a lightning-fast 48.81 anchor split as CdM’s quartet of Harvard-bound Meagan Popp, Nicole Lin, Eliza Britt and Merrell won the race in an All-American time of 3:29.82, ahead of the Warriors’ still-fast time of 3:30.57.

CdM won the meet, 88-82, to improve to 2-0 in league.

People are taking notice. Merrell was spotlighted in the February edition of “Swimming World” magazine, as well as recently for USA Today High School Sports.

She was formally interviewed for the first time Thursday afternoon, for this Athlete of the Week article. More interviews are sure to come for the thoughtful 15-year-old.

“I didn’t think I could go that fast,” she said of that 400 free relay split. “I haven’t gone a 48 ever before, even rested and in a tech suit. The last 25, I was definitely getting tired. But [CdM assistant coach] Stephanie [Gabert] read off our splits after the relay, and she was like, ’48.8.’ I was like, ‘What? Did I just go 48?’ My year-round coach Todd [Hickman] was pretty happy with that too. It was a happy moment.”

Merrell, who also swims for Irvine-based AquaZot Swim Club, has plenty of reason to be happy. She has already qualified for next year’s Olympic Trials in Omaha in three events: the 50 free, 100 fly and 100 back. When the cuts came out last September, Merrell had already swam fast enough at the U.S. National Championships, held at Irvine’s Woollett Aquatics Center in August, to qualify.

She also came into the high school season with plenty of momentum. Last December, she set the 13- and 14-year-old national age group record in the butterfly (53.19) at the Winter Junior Nationals.

“Even though I got second [in the race], I was thrilled,” Merrell said. “My coach, when I got it, he didn’t know I got it. All of my friends Snapchatted me pictures from the live stream that they had, of me on the podium. I think that’s the biggest I’ve ever seen myself smile.”

But who could expect this fast of a start for CdM? Like Wong, CdM Coach Doug Volding isn’t necessarily surprised. He has known of Merrell’s talent ever since her family moved from Colorado in 2011.

“She’s really set it on fire here right out of the starting gate,” said Volding, who needed the big performances from Merrell to help CdM top Irvine and Woodbridge, its two toughest opponents as the Sea Kings aim for back-to-back league titles.

Merrell began swimming when she was little after her parents, Susan and Troy, joined a country club.

“They wanted us to be comfortable with the water, because the country club there had a pool,” Eva Merrell said. “Me, my twin sister [Lauren] and my [older] brother [Tyler] got started in swimming lessons, and we joined the summer league team there.”

Soon, Eva was swimming year-round. After the family moved from Colorado, Eva joined AquaZot on the first day of sixth grade.

She said she enjoys high school swimming, too. Lin is one of her best friends, and she enjoys the mix of club swimmers and water polo players that CdM’s program provides. Senior water polo players like Britt (headed to Princeton for polo), Grace Morgan (Cal) and Sami Pratt (Michigan) team with Merrell on CdM’s relays.

“I’m by far the slowest on that [400 free] relay, but Eva was pumping everyone up [against Woodbridge],” Britt said. “Even as a freshman, she just has such an impact on the team. She just has a lot of energy, and she’s super-fun to be around. She’s definitely a really cool person to have on our team.”

Merrell said she’s interested in swimming the sprint freestyle events as the season continues. For the CIF Southern Section Division 1 finals, though, she will most likely stick to the backstroke and butterfly as her events.

It’s clear that she will be a factor there. Her times against Woodbridge, 56.02 in the back and 54.07 in the fly, would have placed Merrell fourth and third, respectively, in those events last year at the Division 1 finals.

Merrell attended that meet last year at Riverside City College. She watched now-senior Katie McLaughlin of Santa Margarita swim the national high school record, 51.78, to win the butterfly. Now McLaughlin is a potential racer for Merrell to compete against in the event. But she’s not stressed out about it.

“I’m just getting into the flow of this,” Merrell said. “I’ll just race my hardest and see what happens.”

It’s a mature attitude for the freshman to have. She can’t control her opponents’ times, only her own.

Expect the latter to keep getting lower and lower.

That CdM record board definitely isn’t safe.

“I know a lot of people, if they’re at an easy meet, they’re like, ‘We can just have fun,’” Merrell said. “But for me, I really like racing. It’s one of my favorite parts of the sport, just to get in and race as hard as I can. It’s kind of what I look forward to … It’s going to be interesting to see what I can go by senior year CIF, in these events.”

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Eva Merrell

Born: Feb. 10, 2000

Hometown: Longmont, Colorado

Height: 5-foot-11

Sport: Swimming

Year: Freshman

Coach: Doug Volding

Favorite food: Pasta

Favorite movie: “The Fault in Our Stars”

Favorite athletic moment: Winning the 50-yard freestyle in her first long-course meet in Colorado as a 10-year-old.

Week in review: Merrell set school records in the 100-yard butterfly and 100 backstroke in CdM’s 90-80 Pacific Coast League-opening win at Irvine on March 25.