Harbor, CdM produce thrills

CORONA DEL MAR — Newport Harbor High sophomore Kate Klippert and Corona del Mar junior Heather Van Hiel were neck and neck yet again.

Van Hiel had edged Klippert twice in the Battle of the Bay dual swim meet Tuesday at CdM, once in the 50-yard freestyle and again in the 100 free. Each time, Van Hiel had out-touched Klippert at the wall to win the event by less than two-tenths of a second.

“Yes, we were [battling],” Klippert said with a grin. “She was out-touching me a little bit. I was kind of angry, but you’ve just got to look back, look at your dives and your turns and get the glide in at the end.”

But the reason Klippert could grin was because she had won the final battle. This time, she out-touched Van Hiel in the final leg of the meet-ending 400 free relay, enabling the Sailors girls to tie the Sea Kings, 85-85.

Newport Harbor won on the boys’ side, 94-76, in the dual-meet opener for both schools.

All of the drama was on the girls’ side, though, where the Sailors were down, 81-75, headed into the final event. But the team of Mimi Bury, Katie Jackson, Mia Butera and Klippert (3 minutes, 45.42 seconds) held off the CdM team of Allison Peotter, Nicky Lagle, Kate Berry and Van Hiel (3:45.55).

Each time was a CIF Southern Section Division I automatic qualifying time.

The Sailors also earned two points for the third-place finish of Rosie Hope, Nicolina McCall, Caitlin Morrison and Hailey Sandberg, enabling the overall tie.

“The victory is that we didn’t lose,” Newport Harbor Coach Ken LaMont told his girls after the meet, and he meant it.

“I don’t want to sound pessimistic, but I didn’t think we had a chance coming into this meet,” LaMont said. “They’re ranked top 10 in the county ... It’s just meets like this that make it fun and exciting. And if you’re rivals, it makes it even better.”

Jackson, another sophomore, won a pair of events for the Sailors, the 200 free (2:02.05) and the 100 butterfly (1:02.45), the latter a Division I consideration time.

CdM girls’ coach Doug Volding was without two of his best swimmers, in juniors Kelsey Larson and Sarah Furgatch. Both are preparing for a junior nationals meet in Florida later this month.

But Volding wasn’t upset. He said it was the first time in his 23 years coaching at CdM that the Sea Kings had tied the Back Bay meet with the Sailors.

“It doesn’t get any better than that,” he said. “We had great times today. We qualified a bunch of kids [for CIF] already, first meet.”

On the boys’ side, Newport Harbor junior David Linden was a two-time winner, in the 50 free (22.21 seconds, a CIF consideration time) and the 100 fly (56.04). Linden also led off the Sailors’ winning 200 and 400 relays. Sailors sophomore Blake Kelly also won the 100 free (49.69) and was second to Linden in the 50 free.

Newport swept the 50 free as senior Brandon Parole was third, and also swept the 100 fly behind Linden, Andy Hayes and Myles Christian.

“We had some really good swims for the early season,” said Newport Harbor Coach Jason Lynch, who was without senior standout Clinton Jorth for the meet. “I thought our free relays were pretty solid.”

For CdM, freshmen John Kim and Garrett Larson both dominated. Kim won the 200 individual medley in 1:59.42, then won the 100 breaststroke in 59.90, easily a CIF automatic time.

Coach Barry O’Dea said Kim didn’t really want to swim the 100 breast Tuesday.

“I told him, ‘I can’t wait to see you when you feel like swimming it,’ ” O’Dea said with a smile.

Larson won the 500 freestyle in 5:02.16, edging out Newport Harbor’s Zach Lucas. He also won the 100 back by nearly two seconds, finishing in 57.43.

CdM was without one of its top swimmers, senior Yutaro Yamashita, who was fourth in the fly at last year’s Division I finals.

“Newport just went deep on us in the freestyle,” O’Dea said. “Overall, I’m pretty pleased. We have a lot of room for improvement, which I know we’re going to get.”

Both boys’ teams now prepare for the CIF Relays. Preliminaries are Thursday at Belmont Plaza, with the finals on Saturday.

Nonleague

BOYS

Newport Harbor 94,

Corona del Mar 76

200 medley relay – 1. Corona del Mar (Larson, Liao, Kim, Schiefer), 1:42.93.

200 free – 1. Taylor (CdM), 1:51.86; 2. Russell (NH), 1:53.20; 3. Lucas (NH), 1:53.41.

200 IM – 1. Kim (CdM), 1:59.42; 2. McKibbin (NH), 2:08.51; 3. Christian (NH), 2:12.50.

50 free – 1. Linden (NH), 22.21; 2. Kelly (NH), 22.93; 3. Parole (NH), 23.31.

100 fly – 1. Linden (NH), 56.04; 2. Hayes (NH), 56.97; 3. Christian (NH), 58.50.

100 free – 1. Kelly (NH), 49.69; 2. Liao (CdM), 50.12; 3. Osadche (NH), 50.40.

500 free – 1. Larson (CdM), 5:02.16; 2. Lucas (NH), 5:02.85; 3. Parole (NH), 5:14.05.

200 free relay – 1. Newport Harbor (Linden, Christian, Parole, Kelly), 1:30.78.

100 back – 1. Larson (CdM), 57.43; 2. Osadche (NH), 59.36; 3. Papa (CdM), 1:01.52.

100 breast – 1. Kim (CdM), 59.90; 2. Liao (CdM), 1:00.43; 3. Anderson (CdM), 1:06.15.

400 free relay – 1. Newport Harbor (Linden, McKibbin, Osadche, Kelly), 3:21.90.

GIRLS

Newport Harbor 85,

Corona del Mar 85

200 medley relay – 1. Corona del Mar (Peotter, Molnar, Greenlee, Van Hiel), 1:57.96.

200 free – 1. Jackson (NH), 2:02.05; 2. Robinson (NH), 2:03.53; 3. Kennedy (CdM), 2:05.52.

200 IM – 1. Lagle (CdM), 2:21.60; 2. Berry (CdM), 2:22.58; 3. Pedersen (NH), 2:25.26.

50 free – 1. Van Hiel (CdM), 24.77; 2. Klippert (NH), 24.93; 3. McAdams (CdM), 26.68.

100 fly – 1. Jackson (NH), 1:02.45; 2. Lagle (CdM), 1:05.35; 3. Kent (CdM), 1:09.34.

100 free – 1. Van Hiel (CdM), 54.37; 2. Klippert (NH), 54.48; 3. Peotter (CdM), 55.67.

500 free – 1. Bury (NH), 5:30.72; 2. Robinson (NH), 5:30.89; 3. Joseph (NH), 5:31.96.

200 free relay – 1. Newport Harbor (Bury, Robinson, Jackson, Klippert), 1:45.18.

100 back – 1. Peotter (CdM), 1:02.52; 2. Wheeler (CdM), 1:08.94; 3. McCall (NH), 1:09.92.

100 breast – 1. Pedersen (NH), 1:15.03; 2. Molnar (CdM), 1:15.45; 3. McCormick (CdM), 1:17.91.

400 free relay – 1. Newport Harbor (Bury, Jackson, Butera, Klippert), 3:45.42.

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at [email protected].