Irvine Girls Get Off to Fast Start, Win Their First Title

LONG BEACH — It wasn’t until after Thursday’s preliminaries that Irvine Coach Scott Hinman started to believe his girls might have a shot at the Southern Section Division I swimming title.

But even though the Vaqueros were considered the team to beat because they had 12 swimmers in Friday’s finals at Belmont Plaza Pool, Hinman was cautious.

Last year, Ventura Buena edged Irvine to win the Division I title. So it was understandable that Hinman stayed quiet.

But after his 200-yard medley relay team started the meet by swimming almost a second faster than its preliminary time to win the event, Hinman began to sense victory. And when the Vaqueros’ 200 freestyle relay team came from behind on Erin Zehnter’s anchor leg of 24.99 seconds to win, he knew Irvine would win its first Southern Section title.

The Vaqueros finished with 293 points. Fountain Valley was second with 238 and Buena third with 158.

In the boys’ competition, Mission Viejo won its 20th Division I title.

“I told the girls to swim smart and don’t make any mistakes on the relays,” Hinman said. “And they did just that. And everyone swam their lifetime best on the relay teams.”

Irvine was led by Olympic silver medalist Amanda Beard and senior Danielle DeAlva, both double winners Friday. Beard and DeAlva were named female swimmers of the meet.

Beard, who last year swam the 200 individual medley, was a surprise entry in the 100 freestyle, an event she isn’t known for.

“She was very excited about swimming the 100,” Hinman said. “After her swim last week at Sea View League finals, we both thought it would be best to swim this event instead of the 200 IM, which Jennifer Parmenter is swimming.”

Parmenter, a sophomore from Los Angeles Baptist, won the 200 individual medley in a Division I record 2:00.41.

Parmenter just missed making the U.S. Olympic team last year. She also won the 500 free (4:51.42).

“There was no way Amanda could beat Jennifer,” said Hinman, “so it had to be the 100 free.”

Beard’s time of 51.86 was impressive. In the 100 breaststroke, Beard was unable to match her time of last year, but was still plenty fast in 1:02.10. Jessamyn Miller of Mater Dei finished second, only .64 behind Beard.

DeAlva won the 50 freestyle in 23.98 and the 100 backstroke in 55.65, missing a division record by .39.

Fountain Valley also had some impressive performances. Senior Laura Tucker swam a personal best to win the 200 free in 1:50.95 and finished second to DeAlva in the 100 back, with a time of 56.66.

For the Mission Viejo boys, it was business as usual. However, the Diablos started like a rock as the 200 medley relay team was disqualified. The relay team of Juan Rodela, Slawomir Ritcher, Piotr Florezyk and Matt Burny was disqualified after anchor Burny left the block early.

Burny made up for his mistake by winning the 50 (20.92) and 100 freestyle (45.28), which both were All-American times.

James Davison of Mission Viejo dropped seven seconds from his preliminary time to win the 500 free in 4:26.57, which is the fastest time in the nation this year.

Other Diablo winners included Ritcher, who won the 200 IM (1:52.26), and Juan Rodela, who won the 100 backstroke in 51.77.

Santa Margarita finished second with 158 points. For the Eagles, Philippe Demers won two individual events, including a record breaking swim in the 100 butterfly.

Although Demers broke the record he set last year, he was not happy.

“I felt really good after swimming the 200 free, so I thought I would do better in the fly,” Demers said. “I wish I could have gone a bit faster.”

Demers’ time in the fly was 48.25, the best in the nation this year and .43 faster than his time last year. His winning time in the 200 free was 1:38.04. Demers was named the male swimmer of the meet.

Irvine’s Daniel Kim won the 100 breaststroke in 56.74, the fastest time in the county this year.

Foothill finished third with 126 points.