Peirsol dominates

Tony Altobelli

LONG BEACH - The CIF should start handing out gold bracelets or

rings to Newport Harbor swimmer extraordinaire Aaron Peirsol because he’s

running out of room on his neck for any more medals.

The Sailor sophomore, who already had one CIF Division I 100-yard

backstroke title to his credit, added two more individual first-place

medals and tacked on a first- and third-place medal for his relay

contributions in Friday’s CIF Finals.

“This meet, I felt a little more comfortable,” Peirsol said. “I’m sure

that even next year, I’ll feel more at home here.”

Peirsol started his medal collection with the 200 individual medley.

After a fairly even butterfly stroke, Peirsol opened the lead in the

backstroke, held on the breaststroke and dominated in the freestyle to

nail a Division I record time of 1:49.02.

“I knew I would open the lead during the backstroke,” Peirsol said. “I

just needed to get through the breast. Once I did, I knew I was going to

be OK.”

From there, Peirsol, along with Joey Snellgrove, Steve Jendrusina and

Peter Belden, won the 200 free relay (1:27.40). His 20.64 split would

have won the 50 free as an individual time.

Shortly thereafter, Peirsol jumped right back into the water for the 100

backstroke, where he shattered his high school best time with a 48.28,

two seconds better than Irvine’s Jeff Natalizio.

But with all the first-place marks, it was the third-place showing in the

400 free relay (3:13.52) that helped the Sailors in the overall team

standings.

In that race, Ryan Lean, Ryan Gough, Belden and Peirsol each swam stellar

splits in the meet’s final race, enabling the Sailors to sneak up to

third place in the overall standings with 164 points, behind Irvine’s 295

and Mission Viejo’s 221.

“I still can’t believe we ended up in third place,” Coach Brian

Kreutzkamp said. “It came right down to the last race of the night and

the boys stepped up big time. It’s the first time in recent memory we’ve

finished this high.”

Perhaps the unsung hero of the meet for the Tars was Belden, who swam two

dolphin-like split times in the relays, as well as taking fifth in the 50

free (22.05).

In the short relay, with Newport slightly behind Dana Hills after two

legs, Belden ripped off a 21.76 for his 50 split, giving the lead to

Peirsol in the final leg.

“He was even fast in the 100 free consolation,” Kreutzkamp said. “He won

the race (48.38) and his time was fifth fastest of all the swimmers. He

was really performing well tonight.”

Another consolation winner was Joey Snelgrove, who swam a 22.06 in the 50

free consuls, the sixth fastest time of all 50 free competitors.

Lean, in addition to his strong effort in the long relay, took eighth in

the 200 free (1:48.05) and 500 free (4:45.00).

“Overall, I was real happy how everyone stepped up for us,” Kreutzkamp

said. “We’ve come a long way in a short time and we’ve still got a ways

to go.”