Girls swimming: Newport Harbor girls roll

Tony Altobelli

LOS ALAMITOS - The Newport Harbor High girls swim team opened its

2001 season with a convincing 117-58 nonleague win over host Los

Alamitos.

Unlike the inexperienced boys squad, the Sailor girls brought nearly

the entire arsenal against the Griffins.

“We cheated. We came loaded and ready for battle,” Newport Coach Ken

Lamont said. “I was very happy with how we swam today. It’s a nice way

get things going.”

The Sailors won all but one race against the Griffins, while tuning up

for their nonleague home showdown with Corona del Mar on Monday,

beginning at 3 p.m.

Junior Carly Geehr, last year’s CIF Southern Section Division I

champion in the 200-yard freestyle and 100 backstroke, showed her

versatility by winning the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:11.50,

besting runner-up and Sailors’ teammate Jenna Murphy by 10 seconds.

In fact, Geehr’s 2:11.50 bettered the best boys time of 2:14.71 in the

same event.

Geehr also won the 100 freestyle in 54.86 and was one leg of Newport’s

victorious 200 medley relay team (1:54.97), joining Murphy, Jennifer

Arrow and Mai Tajima.

Tajima, a sophomore, won the 100 back (1:02.64), placed second in the

200 free (2:04.13) and joined Geehr, Jessica Ball and Ashley Parole on

the victorious 400 free relay team (3:54.19).

“Mai was a nice surprise for us today,” Lamont said. “She swam great

in the backstroke and had a good 200 free time. I’m expecting a nice

future for her.”

Another multiple winner for the Sailors was Mackey. The defending Sea

View League champion in the 100 butterfly and 200 IM, led from start to

finish to win both the 200 free (1:57.63) and 100 butterfly (1:02.09).

A lighter moment occurred during the 100 breaststroke event. Arrow was

one of three girls who did not hear the opening horn and stayed on the

blocks for three extra seconds. Upon jumping into the pool, she hesitated

once more before finally taking off.

Despite the two setbacks, she still caught up to the others and won

the race, but the teams agreed to race the event again following the 400

free relay.

On the second try, Arrow shot through the water and blew away the rest

of the pack, winning in 1:09.34, nearly 13 seconds better than runner-up

and teammate Nicki Probert (1:22.45).

“I told Jennifer that I was impressed to see her cut eight seconds off

her time so fast,” Lamont joked.

Arrow also put together a solid time in the 200 IM, taking third in

2:24.51, behind Geehr and Mackey, who each swam in last year’s Olympic

trials.

Sophomore Peggy Beebe also got a great start for the Sailors in the

500 free, taking care of business with a winning time of 5:57.75.

Freshman Jessica Ball was second in the 50 free (27.07) and put

together a nice split on Newport’s runner-up 200 free relay team.

“We juggled around the order a little bit to try and see as many

swimmers as we could,” Lamont said. “All in all, it was a great start.”

With the Sea Kings coming to the Sailors’ pool, Lamont wanted to get a

strong showing against the Griffins.

“We talked to the coaches from the club teams and we were able to get

the swimmers to compete today, which was great,” Lamont said. “We didn’t

want to come out empty-handed and we wanted to get our feet wet, so to

speak, before taking on CdM.”