Hamlet Nalbandyan
There aren't many surprises when Crescenta Valley meets Glendale in a
swim meet, especially when the final score is concerned.
However, that trend was at least half broken in Wednesday's
Pacific League regular-season finale at Crescenta Valley High.
No, the Falcons didn't suffer a gigantic upset, winning, 115-44,
in boys and 94.5-74.5 in girls.
But, as evidenced by the end result in the girls' meet, Crescenta
Valley's enormous buffer against their district foe was trimmed just
a bit.
Even on a day when Nitro athletes didn't swim as well as they
usually do.
"Like in any meet, we had highs and lows, but unfortunately today,
we had more lows than highs," Glendale Coach Steve Garberson said.
"However, I was extremely surprised the girls' meet was as close as
it was."
Especially early on. After the 50-yard freestyle was completed,
Glendale (6-2, 3-2 in league) and Crescenta Valley (7-2, 4-1) were
knotted at 30.5.
Of course, Sara Sun had yet to take a swim.
When she did, the meet turned completely in Crescenta Valley's
favor. The sophomore phenom entered the water four times, and came
out a winner each time.
She won the 100 butterfly in 1 minute .87 seconds and came right
back to take the 100 freestyle in 52.97. Her time in the freestyle
was faster than the winner in the boys' meet.
Sun also helped the Falcons to victories in the 200 and 400
freestyle relays.
"The girls had a disappointing loss against Arcadia last week, so
for them, they're trying to refocus to try to win at the league
final," Falcon Coach Jan Sakonju said. "They put together some very
good swims today."
Like Sun, Minah Kim won twice individually and was part of two
relay victories. Kathryn DeJong won the 200 individual medley and was
part of the 200 freestyle winning team.
For Glendale, junior Lauren Ward was a double-winner, taking the
50 freestyle (26.91) and 500 freestyle (5:47.07). Sophomore Sara
Wolff also won for Glendale, finishing ahead of everyone else in the
200 freestyle in 2:14.05.
On the boys' side, the Falcons (9-0, 5-0) -- who won their 65th
consecutive league meet, and 35th straight dual meet -- won 10 of 11
events.
Jamie Morrison won the 100 freestyle for Glendale, only because
all three Falcon swimmers were disqualified.
Although the Falcons came out winners on the varsity side,
Glendale was able to win one meet: girls' junior varsity.
With their 87-67 victory, the Nitros clinched their third
undefeated league title in the past four years.
