Erik Boal
PASADENA -- Well, at least Arcadia High could say it was close for
awhile.
The Apaches showed some signs of confidence through the first two of
11 events at Friday's Pacific League girls' swimming finals at Pasadena
City College, trailing Crescenta Valley by just three points.
And then the Falcon party officially began.
Complete with columbia blue and navy balloons adorning the deck, and
flowers for victorious team members, CV bullied Arcadia and the other
four schools around the rest of the afternoon, recording a mind-boggling
473 points and another league title.
Such a lofty score because it nearly doubled Arcadia's 241-point
second-place output, and because it exceeded last year's league-title
total of 465 points.
"I'm really happy with where we are right now," said Falcon Coach
Peter Kim, who was all smiles after leading CV to its third straight
league title.
"We had great times today and it was a definite team effort."
As expected, the Falcons -- who will compete in Thursday's CIF
Southern Section Division II preliminaries -- won all 11 events, and
added insult to injury by taking second place in five of the eight
individual events.
CV's separation from the rest of the pack began in the 200-yard
individual medley, as sophomore Lindsay Taylor's near seven-second
victory, coupled with five other Falcons finishing in the top nine gave
Kim's squad a 55-point edge in the event.
Taylor won in a season-best 2 minutes 13.73 seconds, ahead of teammate
Kim Hitch, who finished in 2:20.56.
Jessie Stiles then continued the trend with a strong effort in the 50
freestyle, capturing the title in 25.41, ahead of teammates Amanda Miller
(26.14), Chrislyn Nefas (26.33) and Laura Claessens (26.22).
Nefas finished ahead of Claessens based on a judge's decision, despite
having the slower recorded time.
Tawne Fishback helped increase CV's lead to more than 100 points with
her third consecutive league title in the 100 butterfly, posting a CIF
automatic mark of 1:00.52, just ahead of Taylor's 1:01.12 -- another
automatic qualifier.
Miller made it six for six for the Falcons, capturing the 100
freestyle in 55.44, which set the stage for a dominant 500 freestyle win
by Alexis Sheridan.
The UC Irvine-bound senior -- who won her third straight league title
in the 200 freestyle earlier in the meet in 1:59.40 -- triumphed for the
fourth straight year with a more than 37-second victory in 5:10.90.
Victories by Hitch in the 100 backstroke and Fishback in the 100
