SWIMMING / DIVISION I FINALS : El Toro Girls, Marina Boys Hang On to Win Team Titles

LONG BEACH —  Tension, drama and fast times.

There was a little something for everyone Friday night at Belmont Plaza, site of the Southern Section Division I swimming championships.

Tension because the girls’ and boys’ team titles were up for grabs all night, with the El Toro girls’ holding tightly to a slight lead over Mission Viejo, and the boys from Mission Viejo and Marina taking each other to task in the pool all night.

As it turned out, the El Toro girls’ pulled it out. The Chargers, who went undefeated in the regular season and won the South Coast League title last week, scored 167.5 points to the Diablos’ 160.5, for El Toro’s first section victory.

On the boys’ side, Marina prevailed over perennial powerhouse Mission Viejo, which was going for its 16th team title. Marina won only one event--the 200-yard free relay team of Matt Braun, Paul Liegeois, Brian Akian and Jon Kenyon upset defending championship and top-seeded Mission Viejo--but its depth was enough to secure its first-ever team crown.

“Everything fell into place,” said a drenched Dave Pickford, who co-coached the Marina boys with John Wright. “We worked hard all year. We had swimmers in every event but the 100 butterfly. It was depth that did it.”

Pickford said Marina wasn’t gunning to defeat defending champion Mission Viejo, but as long as it did, it was an honor.

“We didn’t care who we beat,” he said. “But when you do beat a team with as much tradition as Mission Viejo, that’s something.”

El Toro, newly crowned with its first section title ever, was equally giddy.

“Oh gosh, it means so much,” said senior Michelle Perry, winner of the 50 and 100 freestyle races. “To be remembered as the first team in school history that won CIF, that’s so great.”

Besides the nail-biting team races, the evening also had the drama of some hotly contested individual races, and fast times, with a national record and one section record falling.

The boys’ 100 back was heralded as the race to watch, and it didn’t disappoint. The showdown between El Toro’s John Simmons and Woodbridge’s Derya Buyukuncu turned out to be a race between Buyukuncu and the clock.

Buyukuncu, a 1992 Olympian for Turkey, gave the 5-year-old national high school record the boot with his new time of 48.93 seconds. Buyukuncu broke the 1988 record of 48.93 set by Derek Weatherford of Fort Myers, Fla.

Buyukuncu had told his mother Thursday he was going to go for the national record, a day after he broke the section record in preliminaries. The junior Olympian flashed a victory sign to his mother, who was watching in the stands.

Buyukuncu and El Dorado’s Kella Hoblick were within striking distance of section records in the 200 individual medley. You had to think if either had been pushed, both would have set new standards as each won their respective races by four seconds.

Hoblick’s 2:01.99 was .11 shy of the mark Mission Viejo’s Karin Werth established in 1983. Buyukuncu, who has been concentrating on improving his breaststroke, was on a record pace after the first 100, but appeared to tire. His 1:49.78 was a sliver slower than the 1:49.13 set by Mission Viejo’s Marcin Malinski in 1992.

Perry and Mission Viejo’s Terah Gisolo swam head-to-head throughout the 50 free and finished that way. They tied for first in 24.00.

In the 100, Perry looked tired in her last 50 yards, but held on and out-touched freshman Nancy Jo of El Dorado. Perry’s 51.59 was her best since her sophomore season and was her third consecutive individual section championship in the event.

In the girls’ 100 back, three swimmers among a very fast field went under the old section mark. Alyssa Resch of Dos Pueblos won the race in 56.40, followed by Mission Viejo’s Cheryl Murphy (56.82) and Buena’s Mandy Walz (56.89, who had set the record of 57.22 in 1992.

Hoblick and Perry were named girls’ co-swimmers of the meet and Buyukuncu was the unanimous choice on the boys’ side.

For Perry, the championship was a dream come true. Early in the season, she talked about how close the team was and how much it wanted a section championship.

“Everyone says that, but it’s true,” she said. “We really wanted it. This team is so close. There’s never any talking behind your back, like girls do. We’re a family.”