Loyola HS Defeats Santa Margarita HS; Justina Kozan Posts 1:46 200 Freestyle

SMCHS vs. Loyola Woodbridge 

• May 11-12, 2021
• Eagle Aquatics Center, RSM CA
• Short Course Yards
• Results on Meet Mobile “SMCHS vs. Loyola Woodbridge

Two of the country’s top high school programs faced off in a dual meet competition, as Santa Margarita High School and Loyola High School met at the Eagle Aquatics Center. Historically, the two teams have been amongst the top high school programs in the country. In 24 years under head coach Rich Blanc, the Santa Margarita girls have won 20 straight league titles and 6-straight CIF State Championship titles. In addition, the boys from Santa Margarita have finished as the league champions 12 times, while also being the 2019 CIF runner up. Loyola, under coach Kevin Mann and assistant coach Chris Gibson, has finished in the top-3 at the CIF-SS Division I Championships 14-consecutive years (with the exception of the 2020 meet cancellation), proving to be one of the top schools in a highly competitive swimming state. 

Loyola won the men’s competition over Santa Margarita by a score of 100 to 70, while Santa Margarita’s women dominated the competition over Woodbridge, sweeping every event.

Santa Margarita opened the meet by winning the women’s 200 medley relay, where the team of Mackey Hodges, Justina Kozan, Asia Kozan, and Lindsay Ervin combined for a time of 1:44.58, dominating the event by 3 seconds. The boys from SMCHS then won their event in a time of 1:33.74, with the team of Humberto Najera, Nathan Wu, Daniel Verdolaga, and Keller Morgan. 

Justina Kozan won the women’s 200 freestyle for Santa Margarita, swimming a blazing time of 1:46.67 en route to victory. She narrowly out-touched Hodges, who came in second with a time of 1:47.67. Loyola got its first win of the day in the boy’s 200 freestyle, where sophomore Rex Maurer touched first in a time of 1:37.09, about a second ahead of his teammate Zachary Larrick’s second-placed time of 1:38.16. 

The Kozan sisters then went 1-2 in the women’s 200 IM, with Justina coming out on top in a time of 2:03.25. Asia touched second in a time of 2:08.38. Santa Margarita’s Najera won the men’s event with a time of 1:50.30, coming in just ahead of Loyla’s Jack Brearton, which touched second with a time of 1:50.51. 

In the women’s 50 freestyle, Ervin touched the wall first in a time of 23.36. Freshman Teia Salvino came in second with a time of 23.49, giving Santa Margarita a 1-2 finish in the event. The men’s 50 freestyle saw a tie for first place between Loyola senior Taz Kanjanakaset and Santa Margarita freshman Ramon Jiang, who touched simultaneously in a time of 21.25. 

Salvino won the women’s 100 freestyle, touching first in a time of 51.06. The results from the 50 freestyle were flopped as Ervin came in second with a time of 51.37. Notably, freshman Ariel Lin came in with a time of 52.31 swimming an exhibition race. After finishing 2nd in the 200 freestyle, Loyola sophomore Larrick came in first in the men’s event with a time of 45.44. 

Santa Margarita’s Isabella Abrajan dominated the women’s 100 butterfly, coming in first with a time of 54.72, finishing over 2 seconds ahead of the field. The Santa Margarita men also got a win in the 100 butterfly via freshman Daniel Verdolaga, who posted a time of 49.15. 

Sophomore Abby O’Sullivan from Santa Margarita won the women’s 500 freestyle, posting the only sub-5:00 swim of the field to come in with a time of 4:54.87. Junior Abigail Isaly came in second with a time of 5:04.09, leaving herself almost 30 seconds ahead of the remainder of the field. Maurer completed the distance sweep by winning the men’s race with a time of 4:24.56, coming in almost 6 seconds ahead of the field. 

Santa Margarita won the women’s 200 freestyle relay, as the team of Salvino, Linda Yu, Lin, and Ervin posted a time of 1:36.28 for the victory. In a tight battle in the boy’s race, Loyola came out on top with a winning time of 1:22.77, posted by the team of Kanjanakaset, William Kim, Larrick, and Maurer. 

Abrajan won the women’s 100 backstroke, coming in with a final time of 56.61 to touch about a second and a half ahead of second place finisher Maggie McGuire, who finished in 58.15. Kim won the men’s 100 backstroke, being the only swimmer in the field to dip under 50 seconds, finishing in 49.99. His teammate, James Cahill finished second in a time of 50.23. 

Junior Mirabella Levine from Santa Margarita won the women’s 100 breaststroke, touching in a time of 1:06.59 en route to victory. On the men’s side, freshman Daniel Verdolaga touched first in an impressive time of 57.53, leading a podium sweep for Santa Margarita. Sophomore Jacky Xing came in second with a time of 58.52, while freshman Nathan Wu finished 3rd in a time of 58.74. 

Santa Margarita completed its sweep of the women’s events by taking victory in the women’s 400 freestyle relay, where the team of Justina Kozan, Yu, Salvino, and Hodges finished with a time of 3:29.01 en route to victory. Loyola took the final event of the day, winning the men’s 400 freestyle relay in a time of 3:01.01. Notably, Maurer posted a best time in the 100 freestyle on the lead-off leg, splitting 44.86. His mom Lea Maurer is currently on the coaching staff at USC,