2015 CIF-SS Division II Prelims – Crean and Glendora in Heated Battle for Girls’ Title

2015 California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Swimming & Diving Championships – Division II

• Diving: Results
• Swimming: Prelims – Friday, May 15, 2015; Finals – Saturday, May 16, 2015
• Location: Riverside City College
• Defending Champions: Glendora (girls), Los Osos (boys) – 2014 Results
• Live Results: Available via SwimPhone
• Championship Central

Division II

Full results

The preliminary session of CIF-SS Division II on Friday morning produced some interesting surprises in the team races. In the girls’ meet, Crean Lutheran did a little better than the psych sheet would have indicated, but Glendora did much, much better and is now in a position to challenge Crean for the title. On the boys’ side, Laguna Beach performed as well, if not better, than expected and Murrieta Valley knocked it out of the park to move up to a potential second-place finish.

Girls’ Meet

Glendora set the tone with a strong performance in the 200 medley relay from Katie Sulkevich (27.93), Jackie Basham (30.09), Alexis Margett (24.60), and Gisel Olvera (24.70), for a total time of 1:47.32. Qualifying second was Chaparral (1:47.53); Crean Lutheran was third in 1:47.88.

Catherine Sanchez of Glendora went 1:49.63 to lead the qualifiers in the 200 free. Defending champion Taylor Ault of Sonora (1:50.11) and Ayala’s Kenisha Liu (1:50.22) were the next-fastest.

Ella Eastin from Crean Lutheran was the fastest 200 IMer in prelims with 2:01.37. Qualifying second and third were Courtney Tseng of Sunny Hills (2:05.40) and Mikki Thompson of Ayala (2:06.03). Eastin was also the top qualifier in the 100 breast, going 1:03.28. Lauren Wood of Chaparral (1:03.64) and Niki Proctor of Redlands (1:04.30) will challenge her for the title.

Crean freshman Elise Garcia led the qualifiers in the 50 free with 23.25. Claire Fisch of Martin Luther King went 23.67 for second, while Wilson Long Beach’s Mia Tedesco clocked a 24.08 for third. Garcia was also the top qualifier in the 100 free with 50.60.

The top butterfliers, Sanchez of Glendora (54.56), her teammate Alexis Margett (54.86), and Crean Lutheran’s Emily Eastin (55.44) set up a potentially exciting final. Eastin came back later to take the top spot in the 100 back with 54.97. Westlake’s Elena England (56.57) and Madison Frederick of Chaparral (56.91) qualified second and third.

Defending champion Ault of Sonora popped a 4:53.54 to lead the field in the 500 free. Glendora’s Sulkevich (4:54.28) and MLK’s Lauren Vitort (4:56.81) were second and third.

Glendora edged Crean Lutheran in the 200 free relay, 1:37.35 to 1:37.67, setting up a great battle for finals. Given how close the two teams are, this will be one of the decisive races.

Crean, meanwhile, put up the leading time in the 400 free relay (3:31.68), ahead of Chaparral (3:32.82) and Glendora (3:33.32).

Boys’ Meet

The boys’ meet began with Redlands East Valley (1:35.01) getting a narrow lead on Laguna Beach (1:35.08) in the 200 medley relay. Laguna Beach performed consistently throughout the meet, keeping their hold on the top spot heading into finals.

Tanner Shore of Santiago/Corona (1:41.06), Joshua Dewhurst of Paso Robles (1:41.78) and Matt Hales of Laguna Hills (1:42.35) led the field in the 200 free, while La Canada’s Dane Bell (4:32.15) put up the fastest 500 time. Hales was second (4:35.18) and Michael Tenney of Chino Hills (4:36.29) followed.

Erik Juliusson of Laguna Beach came within 8/10 of the meet record with 1:48.64 in prelims. The next-fastest was Garrett Tse of South Pasadena (1:51.97), who qualified just ahead of Cameron Karkoska of Laguna Beach (1:52.18).

Arcadia’s Tenny Chong was about a half-second off his seed time but nevertheless led the field in the 50 free with 21.29. Michael Jones of Vista Murrieta and Connor Wilde of El Toro were second and third with 21.35 and 21.49, respectively. Jones was the number one qualifier in the 100 free with 46.61, just ahead of Harrison Strange of Oaks Christian (46.85) and Santiago’s Shore (46.88).

San Marino’s Javier Lopez led the field in the 100 fly with 49.71. He will be challenged in finals by Min Zhi Chua of Mission Viejo (50.46) and Crescenta Valley’s Edward Yi (50.48).

Defending champion and meet record-holder Daniel McArthur of Lakewood led the 100 backstrokers with 49.02, about a half-second off his record. Laguna Beach’s Juliusson was second in 50.37. Fernando Duenas of Redlands East Valley dropped 1.3 to qualify third in 50.96.

Cameron Karkoska of Laguna Beach went 57.78 to qualify first in the 100 breast. Teammate Max Morgan was next (57.90), just in front of Redlands East Valley’s Jack Moyles (57.99).

Laguna Beach went 3:08.03 to lead the qualifiers in the 400 free relay with Morgan (47.25), Cade Baldridge (48.00), Karkoska (46.33), and Juliusson (46.45).