Erik Boal
GLENDALE -- Crescenta Valley High girls' swim Coach Peter Kim said
that his team would need to exceed their own expectations at Thursday's
CIF Southern Section Division II preliminaries and Saturday's division
finals to have a shot at winning the title.
But if Tuesday's efforts by two Falcon divers at the CIF finals at
Claremont-McKenna College were an indication of what kind of performances
to expect from CV on Thursday and Saturday, then Kim should feel pretty
good about his chances.
Behind sophomore Cassidy Farwell's second-place finish and a
seventh-place showing from another sophomore, Catheline Youm, the Falcons
earned 29 points, the most accumulated by any team in the division.
Harvard-Westlake, by virtue of the eighth-, ninth- and 12th-place
finishes, recorded 26 points.
On the boys' side, junior Joey Castellani improved on last year's
third-place finish to take second in the 23-diver field. Senior Steve
Grivno placed sixth and junior Daniel Fekete was 12th to give CV's boys'
squad 35 points, also the most by any team in the division.
Don Lugo junior Kristen Littell won the girls' competition with 553
points and Irvine University senior Louis Gagnet dominated the boys'
field with 640.95 points.
Farwell -- who took fifth at last year's finals with 386 points --
finished her 11-dive program with 487.90 points, continuing the tradition
of strong female divers at CV, previously established by UCLA freshman
Kasey Reinhard.
Youm -- who was 20th a year ago and failed to earn a point based on
not placing in the top 16 -- was easily the biggest surprise of the day,
recording 345.50 points.
"Cassidy did an excellent job today moving up the way she did," Falcon
diving Coach Mike Huber said. "But Catheline's performance shocked all of
us. To move from 20th to 7th is a huge boost, not only for her, for the
team. She surprised everyone."
Following Reinhard's graduation and after assessing the entry scores,
Kim only anticipated between 15 and 20 points, but was pleasantly
surprised upon learning of Farwell and Youm's efforts.
"We were only supposed to get somewhere in the high teens, but we
exceeded the expectations," Kim said. "That's just what [the swim team]
needs to do Thursday. Everyone has to move up a spot or two.
"If everyone finished with their same entry times, we'd finish eighth.
But there are only 38 points separating first and eighth, so there is
room to move up and these diving points help us tremendously."
Castellani -- who recorded 381.45 points at last year's finals -- shot
up to 488.15 points, paving the way for three top 12-finishes.
"Joey's been practicing a lot harder and he's matured a lot since last
season," said Huber, who now boasts 14 divers in the CV program.
"What I try and convey to these kids is that they need to be patient
and learn the dives in their freshman and sophomore years, and then in
their junior and senior years, they'll get their glory."
Grivno also improved tremendously from last season, where he took 11th
with 282.65 points. The senior amassed 350.15 points and Fekete, who took
13th a year ago and was recently sidelined with a sinus infection,
ascended to tally 291.35 points.
