Sea Queens Set Record at Southern Section Swim Relays

Corona del Mar High’s girls 4x50 butterfly relay team took nearly five seconds off its preliminary time to hold off University and Hart High for first place in the event at the Millikan Southern Section Relays on Saturday night at Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach.

The Sea Queens' time of 1 minute 44.97 seconds was fast enough to break the meet record time of 1:45.26, set by Edison last year. Sophomore Brynne Wong swam a 25-second anchor leg to help Corona del Mar edge University, which finished in 1:45.89.

Wong’s sister, junior Natalie Wong, swam the first leg, with juniors Pippa Saunders and Hollace Barden swimming the second and third legs, respectively. Santa Margarita shaved nearly three seconds off its prelim time to take fifth in the event in 1:49.21.

Edison won the overall competition for the second year in a row with 264 points, with University (202) and Hart from Newhall (180) taking second and third, respectively.

Santa Margarita finished fourth in the scoring with 174 points, setting four school records along the way: 4x100 individual medley (4:04.26), 6x50 freestyle (2:30.22), 4x50 fly (1:49.21) and the 4x100 free (3:37.27).

“It was a good meet for us,” Eagle co-coach Rich Blanc said.

Santa Margarita junior Megan Gehrich teamed with senior Shannon Mack, freshman Lizzie Devitt and freshman Haley Wan to finish third inthe 4x110 IM.. In the Eagles’ 6x50 free, four freshmen -- Raquel Remick, Jax Shoults, Megan Roby and Devitt -- teamed up with senior Mackenzie Beck and junior Kellie Fecarotta teamed up to take fourth overall.

Fountain Valley also made a strong showing with a roster of mostly underclassmen that have the Barons’ future looking bright. They finished third in the 6x50 free (2:29.26) and took ninth in team scoring with 120 points despite not participating in the highly competitive early-season meet last year. Part of the draw for the Barons this year was getting a chance to test themselves against Sunset League rival Edison.

“We’re young, but we’re here and we’re ready to fight it out,” Fountain Valley coach Mike Nichols said.

In the 6x50 free, the Barons team of Jenna Reese, Sarah Yao, Jamie Dang, Kelsey Randall, Taylor Johnson and Shelby Webber finished only .24 seconds behind runner-up Irvine and only 1.53 seconds behind Edison, which won in 2:27.73. In the 4x50 medley, the Barons finished third in a time of 1:48.52, breaking an 18-year-old school record.

Capistrano Valley participated in the meet but only at the frosh/soph level, where the Cougars won two events: the 4x100 free and the 4x50 breast.

Freshman Hannah Rios, sophomore Sierra Gage, sophomore Danielle Burton and freshman Brooke Lorentzen teamed to swim the 4x100 free in 3:43.50, to finish ahead of runner-up El Toro, followed by Los Alamitos, Aliso Niguel, Santa Margarita and Tesoro, finishing third through sixth, respectively.

Sophomores Megan La Tourette and Sierra Boisen teamed with freshmen Jillian Ferreri and Lorentzen to win the 4x50 breast in 2:16.49, edging runner-up Aliso Niguel, which posted a time of 2:17.71.

El Toro's frosh/soph 6x50 relay team set a meet record as Becca Aguilar, Delaney Riley, Shelby Rascon, Hannah DeBoskey, Maddie Miller and Allison Skaggs combined to post a time of  2:33.43, besting the previous record set by Irvine last year by more than three seconds.

Skaggs, DeBoskey, Miller and Aguilar also set a school record in the 4x100 free with a time of 3:43.92 for second-place finish in the event. Aliso Niguel's frosh/soph team won the 4x50 backstroke event in a time of 1:58.87.

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Top 10 Varsity Team Scores:

1. Edison -- 264 points

2. University -- 202

3. Hart -- 180

4. Santa Margarita -- 174

5. Mater Dei -- 166

6. Corona del Mar -- 158

7. Los Alamitos -- 146

8. Irvine -- 132

9. Fountain Valley -- 120

10. Glendora -- 86