High School Swimming: CdM girls place fourth at CIF finals

RIVERSIDE — Eva Merrell and Meagan Popp seemingly did it all for the Corona del Mar High girls’ swim team this season.

When the dust settled Saturday night at Riverside City College, Merrell and Popp combined to own seven of eight team individual records, as well as the medley relay record with Nicole Lin and Sami Pratt.

“That’s amazing,” CdM Coach Doug Volding said.

Merrell, the freshman, and Popp, the Harvard-bound senior, lifted their games to new heights at the CIF Southern Section Division 1 swimming finals. They helped CdM place fourth as a team.

CdM was originally announced as the fifth-place finisher for the second straight year, but the Sea Kings moved up a spot after their Pacific Coast League rival Woodbridge was announced as disqualified in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

Merrell was an individual event champion, in the 100 backstroke. She swam a lifetime-best 53.07 seconds to easily win the race over second-place finisher Sonia Wang of JSerra, Popp’s future teammate at Harvard, who finished second in 53.96.

Santa Margarita won the Division 1 title.

“[Friday] I worked with my coach a lot on my stroke, and I think that really helped me,” Merrell said. “I was catching more water in the race, and I felt that my turn over was better than it was on Thursday [at preliminaries]. I still always have things to work on that I find in each race. I think that was really good, though. That was my last 100 back I’ll do short course this year, so I was happy with it.”

Merrell finished second in the 100 butterfly, in 52.14. Santa Margarita senior Katie McLaughlin, a Cal-bound swimmer who is on the national team, swam a national high school record 51.53 to win the event.

“Eva’s definitely going to be out fast,” McLaughlin said. “I definitely did see her and she definitely pushed me along the way.”

Merrell, a 15-year-old, called McLaughlin a role model after the race. In a classy move, she tweeted congratulations to McLaughlin as well. She was very close halfway through the race – with a 50 split of 24.52 compared to McLaughlin’s 24.35 – but McLaughlin was just a bit faster.

“She actually calmed me down before the race, when we were talking in the warm-up pool,” Merrell said. “She’s honestly the nicest person. She’s amazing. For her to be nice means a lot … I was happy to get second to her, because she’s Katie McLaughlin. Even to come close to her, it’s reaching something.”

Popp also had a very strong performance in her final high school meet. She finished fourth in the 200 IM, lowering her own school record to 1:59.34 and breaking the two-minute mark for the first time.

“I was just so pleasantly surprised,” Popp said. “That’s what I’ve been training for the past couple of weeks. I told myself if I went a 2:00, I’d be so happy still, but breaking two minutes was a really high goal that I set for myself. It was just icing on the cake.”

Popp then came back to finish third in the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.32, breaking CdM assistant coach Stephanie Gabert’s school record of 1:02.71 set in 2005. She finishes her CdM career with the school records in the IM and breaststroke, as well as the 200 and 500 free.

Merrell has school records in the 100 free, butterfly and breaststroke.

“I think Eva and I pushed each other throughout the season,” Popp said. “We set the bar high for one another. Also, we try to create such an encouraging atmosphere for all of us. I mean, Nicole did really well today too. We all gave our best efforts in the relays. I think we really just set the bar for next season, too. I think Eva and Nicole are going to do even better things next year.”

Lin finished fifth in the 50 free, in 23.92. She was 13th in the 100 breast, in 1:05.83.

CdM’s medley relay of Lin, Popp, Merrell and Pratt lowered its own school record to 1:44.06 and placed third. The 400 free relay of Popp, Lin, Kaybree Albright and Merrell finished fifth in 3:28.94.

Pratt, a water polo player bound for the University of Michigan, said she enjoyed the season competing with CdM’s three very dedicated club girls.

“It’s super-exciting,” Pratt said. “I’ve loved swimming with all of the club girls. It’s just nice to get out of my element and compete with people that I’m not normally practicing with. They’re super-supportive, and they get super-excited if I get a PR or I go fast, even if it’s not fast by club [standards].”

Newport Harbor’s girls had their 200 free relay competing in the consolation final. Carlee Kapana, Dinny Stevens, Morganne Goodson and Sara Henry placed 15th in 1:40.77.