California High School League Meets Feature Close Team Races, Fast Times

Katie McLaughlin wins the 200 butterfly.

PHOENIX, Arizona, May 10. SEVERAL of California’s high school swimming and diving league championship meets wrapped up yesterday, including the Pacific Coast League, Sea View League and Trinity League, in what should be a preview of some exciting section meets beginning next weekend.

Pacific Coast League

A couple of the top high school teams in California battled Friday night at the Pacific Coast League Championships in Irvine, with Irvine’s University High School taking home the boys’ title and Corona del Mar topping the girls’ field.

University’s Corey Okubo, who will take his talents to Princeton in the fall, grabbed two individual wins in the 200 IM and 100 fly. Okubo swam a 1:46.87 to win the IM and then touched in 48.69 for the 100 fly victory. University also got wins from William Hofstadter in the 50 free (21.12), Ken Takahashi in the 500 free (4:27.31) and Daniel Tran in the 100 back (49.87). Corona del Mar put up a fight for the boys’ title, winning a couple of events as well. Liam Karas won two events, the 200 free (1:39.54) and 100 free (46.07), while Tyler Lin (100 breast, 56.20) also contributed major points.

Corona del Mar surged to the girls’ team title, thanks in large part to Stephanie Samudro and Meagen Popp, who each won two events. Samudro collected wins in the 100 fly (55.59) and 100 breast (1:03.46), while Popp hit the touchpads first in the 500 free (4:53.16) and 100 back (58.45). Popp’s win in the 100 back came by .01 over Alexa Clayfield of Woodbridge. Irvine’s Emily Jiang also had a strong meet, winning the 200 free in 1:51.02 and the 100 free in 52.10. The three swimmers shared the Swimmer of the Meet award for the girls’ side.

Sea View League

The San Clemente High School boys and Dana Hills High School girls picked up the respective team titles yesterday afternoon at the Sea View League Championships at El Toro High School.

A couple of swimmers picked up multiple individual titles during the meet. On the girls’ side, Laguna Hills’ Grace Anderson started off the meet with a win in the 200 free, touching first in 1:52.20. Later in the meet, she topped the field in the 500 free, posting the only sub-5:00 swim of the meet with a 4:58.16. Dana Hills’ Cassidy Humphrey played a huge part in her school’s team title with two individual wins. Humphrey grabbed the 200 IM title in 2:07.95, then won the 100 fly in 56.76.

On the boys’ side, San Clemente’s Aidan Pastel doubled up in the 200 free (1:39.09) and 100 free (45.26) to help lead his school to the title. Daniel Gloude of San Juan Hills took second in that event in 46.09 and won the 200 IM in 1:51.41. Runner-up Trent Pelini of Dana Hills (1:53.35) won the 100 breast later in the meet with a 56.82.

Trinity League

The Trinity League held its championship meet Friday night as well, with the Santa Margarita High School boys and girls teams running away with the team titles despite a handful of outstanding swims from JSerra High School swimmers.

JSerra’s Kaitlyn Albertoli led the way with two outstanding swims in two of the first three individual events of the meet. After winning the 200 free handily in 1:47.76, she returned to the pool minutes later to post a 22.71 in the 50 free, just edging Santa Margarita’s Kathryn McLaughlin (22.77). McLaughlin went on to win the 100 fly after the diving break, touching in 53.29.

On the boys’ side, Marc Morizono of Santa Margarita was one of two double event winner on the day, as he cruised to wins in the 200 free (1:40.96) and 100 free (46.32). Santa Margarita also got wins from Arturo Cerda in the 200 IM (1:54.89) and 100 breast (59.48) and Grant Shoults in the 100 fly (49.26).

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