Southern Section 4-A Swimming Championships : Capistrano Valley Girls Win Easily; Mission Viejo Boys Get 13th in Row

There were few surprises in Friday night’s Southern Section 4-A swimming final.

Only confirmation of what everyone already knew: Mission Viejo High School won the boys’ 4-A championship and Capistrano Valley won the girls’ title.

Mission Viejo’s boys outscored second-place Capistrano Valley, 173-129, by improving their times from the preliminaries. It was the Diablos’ 13th straight 4-A championship.

Capistrano Valley’s girls dominated, finishing nearly 100 points ahead of second-place Mission Viejo (237-152). It was the Cougars’ second consecutive championship.

“I knew by the way the girls swam yesterday (in the preliminaries) that we were going to be tough to beat,” Capistrano Valley Coach Bob Gaughran said. “They were so fired up, I knew nobody could beat us.”

Capistrano Valley had a double win from sophomore Christy Carolin, who won the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyles. It was the second straight year that Carolin has won the 50 free.

She swam the 50 in 23.69 seconds and the 100 in 51.63.

Carolin won both events easily. She finished nearly a second ahead of her sister Kim in the 50 and Suzi Burt of Mission Viejo in the 100.

In doing so, Christy Carolin avenged losses to the same two swimmers in the South Coast League finals a week ago. In that meet, Kim Carolin won the 50 free and Burt won the 100 free.

“I think losing in the league meet woke me up,” Christy Carolin said. “It was such a disappointing meet for me, nothing went right. I guess it’s good to have that happen in the league finals and not this meet.”

Said Gaughran: “Losing in the league finals may have been the best thing to happen to Christy. It got her thinking.”

Capistrano Valley also had first-place finishes by Jennifer Sprogis in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.46) and by the 200 medley relay team (1:49.55).

In the individual competition, Debbie Babashoff of Fountain Valley won both the 200 freestyle (1:50.61) and 500 freestyle (4:50.74). Her performance helped the Barons finish third with 91 points.

Burt finished second in the 100 free and won the 100 backstroke (58.57).

Betsi Hugh of Marina won the 200 individual medley (2:06.62) and was third in the 100 butterfly.

In the boys’ meet, Mission Viejo continued its dominance, but Coach Mike Pelton thinks it’s getting tougher to defend the 4-A championship each year.

“It’s usually a 100-point spread for Mission Viejo,” he said. “But I think other programs are catching up to us.”

Gary Vanboxtel was the only Diablo swimmer to win an individual event, as he finished first in the 200 individual medley (1:53.67).

But, Mission Viejo won both the 200 medley relay (1:36.14) and 400 freestyle relay (3:08.10).

Greg Larson of Villa Park and Jeff Thomason of Corona del Mar both won two events for the second-straight year.

Larson finished first in the 200 freestyle (1:40.05) and 500 freestyle (4:32.58), but had to hold off serious challenges in both races. Jason Callahan of Camarillo finished second in the 200 free and Ryan Cox finished second in the 500 free.

“I just ran out of gas in both races, mainly because I’ve swam so much this year,” Larson said.

Thomason won the 50 freestyle (21.33) and 100 freestyle (46.69).