2023 Trinity League Finals
- April 25-28, 2023
- San Juan Capistrano, California
- JSerra Catholic High School
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
Asia Kozan earned family bragging rights on Friday at the Trinity League Finals in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., breaking older sister Justina‘s league record in the girls’ 200 IM as she led the Santa Margarita girls to their 23rd consecutive conference title.
Asia, a senior at Santa Margarita who is committed to UC San Diego for next season, clocked a time of 1:58.09 in the 200 IM to knock more than two-tenths off the previous mark set by Justina in 2021 (1:58.32).
Justina, who recently completed her freshman year at USC, set that record two years ago with Asia placing second in 2:04.24 in the same heat.
“I’ve got to brag about it,” Kozan told The OC Register of breaking her sister’s record. “I feel like before I wasn’t really at her level, or even close to her level, but I feel like I’m slowly getting there. I’ve actually never beat her but I just broke her record.”
Kozan owns a personal best time of 1:57.60, set at the 2022 Winter Junior Championships – West this past December.
She also won the 100 free in a time of 50.01, having set a PB of 48.58 in March, while sophomore teammate Teagan O’Dell won the girls’ 100 fly (52.48) and 50 free (22.77) and also combined with Nicole Christensen, Chloe Stinson and Ariel Lin to earn Santa Margarita a new Trinity League Record in the girls’ 200 medley relay (1:41.49).
In the 100 fly, O’Dell set a new league record in the prelims in 52.21, also a personal best time, and in the 50 free, her clocking in the final was just six one-hundredths shy of the league record.
O’Dell has also been quicker in the 200 IM this season (1:57.32) than Kozan’s new league record, done at the Loyola Invitational in late March.
22.77 for @SMCHSswim’s Teagan O’Dell, just misses Trinity Lg record @ocvarsity @OCVswimdive pic.twitter.com/xEFbKs4bzq
— Dan Albano (@ocvarsityguy) April 28, 2023
On the boys’ side, Santa Margarita senior and Cal commit Humberto Najera set a pair of Trinity League Records in the 200 IM (1:48.50) and 100 back (47.84), with the latter marking a new personal best time.
The team also had new league records set by Daniel Verdolaga in the 100 fly (47.84), Hunter Cehelnik in the 100 free (44.77) and Nathan Wu in the 100 breast (56.12).
Najera (22.55), Wu (25.93), Verdolaga (21.68) and Ramon Jiang (20.57) also combined to set a new league record in the 200 medley relay, clocking 1:30.73—though the team went faster earlier this season in 1:29.97.
“It just shows how we prepared we are (for CIF),” said Najera of Santa Margarita’s performance.
The Santa Margarita girls won their 23rd straight title, while the boys’ team claimed their 15th in program history.
@SMCHSswim claim a 6 level sweep of Trinity League championships on boys and girls varsity, JV, and Open. Girls Varsity won their 23rd straight title, the boys 15th in the past 23 years. @OCVswimdive @swimswam Results: https://t.co/vRXQcmuqcj pic.twitter.com/27bqQ6K8Qb
— SMCHS Swim & Dive (@SMCHSswim) April 29, 2023
JSerra Catholic junior Ryder Dodd, who is primarily a water polo player and represented the U.S. at the 2022 World Youth Water Polo Championships in Belgrade, won the boys’ 200 free in a time of 1:38.55, edging out Santa Margarita’s Cehelnik (1:38.70) in league record fashion.
“That’s definitely killer,” Dodd’s teammate Bode Brinkema, the 50 free winner (20.73), told The OC Register. “Water polo is all our main sport.”
TOP 3 TEAM SCORES – GIRLS
- Santa Margarita, 696
- Mater Dei, 414
- JSerra Catholic, 391
TOP 3 TEAM SCORES – BOYS
- Santa Margarita, 684
- Mater Dei, 391.5
- JSerra Catholic, 364