Furgatch swims for third

LONG BEACH — Sarah Furgatch was the only Newport-Mesa girls’ swimmer to advance to the championship finals of an event at the CIF Southern Section Division I finals.

Once there, the Corona del Mar High junior didn’t disappoint Friday night at Belmont Plaza.

Furgatch shrugged off Wednesday’s preliminaries, placing third in the 200-yard freestyle in a personal-best time of 1 minutes, 53.33 seconds. She was seeded sixth headed into the finals.

“I was pretty happy,” Furgatch said. “That’s actually my best time, including club season, so that’s pretty cool.”

Other top three-finishers included the Newport Harbor boys’ 200 free relay, which placed second. Junior David Linden, sophomore Blake Kelly and seniors Myles Christian and Clinton Jorth combined to finish in 1:25.97, which was just two-tenths of a second off their school-record time at the Sunset League finals.

Yucaipa, which won the boys’ team championship, won the event in a blistering 1:23.04.

“We were out-touched by Yucaipa,” Jorth said with a grin. But, all kidding aside, the Sailors swimmers were impressed with the time.

“We were definitely pretty pumped up,” Christian said. “Our main goals coming into the finals were to beat El Toro and Mater Dei, and to place second, and we did it.”

CdM sophomore Michael Liao was third in the 100 breaststroke, breaking freshman teammate John Kim’s school record. Liao finished in 58.13 seconds, while Kim was sixth in the race in 58.99. Kim’s record heading into the meet was 59.49. The two swimmers have gone back and forth in the event all year, breaking the school record a total of four times.

“It’s fun,” Liao said. “I just felt good in the water tonight. I got out really fast and then I knew I was in it. I think it helped that I got a good warm-up.”

The CdM boys’ 200 medley relay team of Kim, Liao, senior Yutaro Yamashita and junior Brian Schiefer also placed third Friday, despite being seeded eighth. They finished in a season-best time of 1:38.55.

“We were shocked,” Liao said. “That was really good.”

The fast times all helped the CdM boys place fifth as a team. The Sea Kings were ninth last year.

“Two years ago, we weren’t close to the top 10, last year we’re ninth and this year we’re fifth,” CdM boys’ coach Barry O’Dea said. “That’s better than what I thought we’d do after prelims. We really made some huge, huge steps forward this year.”

Furgatch, meanwhile, was actually attempting to qualify for the championship finals in both the 200 free and 200 individual medley. However, she said the latter time suffered at Wednesday’s prelims because the events were so close to each other in the early part of the meet. Despite being seeded third in the IM, she didn’t qualify for the finals.

“I ended up being really tired after the IM [Wednesday],” said the versatile Furgatch, who was fifth in the 100 breast at last year’s Division I finals. “I don’t know what I was thinking, because if I made it back to finals in both of them, I’d only have like two heats in between.

“Next year I’m going to space [the events] out a little,” she added with a laugh.

The Arizona State-bound Yamashita also had a good day individually. He finished fourth in the 200 free (1:40.09) and fifth in the 100 butterfly in 50.31 seconds. Both times were personal-bests, and the fly time lowered Yamashita’s own school record he originally set last year.

Yamashita said he wanted to go under 1:40 and 50 seconds, respectively, but he couldn’t be upset.

“This meet is pretty quick,” he said. “I’m pretty happy.”

Kim placed fourth in the 200 IM, in what O’Dea said was another personal-best time of 1:55.11.

All of the above swimmers also have an excellent chance of advancing to Tuesday’s CIF Southern Section Masters Meet. The top two individuals or relay teams in each race advance from each division, but so do the 16 next-fastest times, regardless of division.

Several local swimmers also competed in the consolation finals. Jorth, who is UCLA-bound for water polo, won the consolation final of the 200 free in a time of 1:43.25. He also placed 10th, second in the consolation final, in the 100 free (47.61), as did Christian in the 100 fly (52.46).

Newport Harbor senior Hunter Owen and CdM freshman Garrett Larson placed 11th and 12th, respectively, in the 100 breast. Owen swam a 1:02.14 and Larson finished in 1:02.28.

CdM junior Kelsey Larson was 11th in the girls’ 100 breast, in 1:07.31, just off a personal-best. She was also 14th in the girls’ 200 IM, in 2:11.35.

Newport Harbor senior Erin Reid was 15th in the 500 free, in 5:15.78.

The Newport Harbor girls’ 400 free relay team of Reid, senior Mimi Bury and sophomores Katie Jackson and Kate Klippert finished 14th, in 3:41.60.

The CdM girls’ 200 free relay team of Furgatch, senior Allison Peotter, freshman Nicky Lagle and Larson were 16th in 1:43.01.

Mission Viejo won the girls’ team title.

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