Falcons’ strong in victory

Just a freshman, Crescenta Valley High girls’ swimmer Mackenzie Hobby has been given the responsibility to participate in some of the more difficult races and relays. She’s been doing just fine.

Hobby captured two individual events and helped win two relays to propel visiting Crescenta Valley to a 122-48 victory against the Burroughs Indians on Wednesday afternoon in a Pacific League dual meet.

Crescenta Valley notched a 106-64 win in the boys’ portion of the meet.

Hobby finished first in the 200-yard individual medley in 2 minutes 30.27 seconds and the 500 freestyle (5:42.29). She also teamed up to help the Falcons (7-2, 3-0 in league) win the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays.

“It’s all about the strokes,” said Hobby, who helped the Falcons snap a two-meet losing skid. “[The races] are sort of long.

“By the end of a race, I feel like I have more endurance. That’s helping keep me in the races.”

The Falcons won nine of the meet’s 11 races to further make it a long day for the Indians (1-1 overall and in league).

Hobby began the meet by working with Taylor Kuh, Corinne Ingalla and Christine Cho to take the 200 medley relay (2:07.22). She helped close out the meet by teaming with Cho, Keri Kunkel and Ashley Kang to take the 400 freestyle relay (4:07.70).

Kang finished first in the 200 freestyle (2:11.38), Kunkel took the 50 freestyle (25.85) and Cho captured the 100 butterfly (1:06.56) to give the Falcons a 59-19 lead. Ani Nalbandian won the 100 backstroke (1:12.06) for the Falcons, who saw Janelle Kim, Sandy Meidinger, Cho and Kunkel take the 200 freestyle relay (1:50.97).

Burroughs’ top swimmer proved to be sophomore Mikela Velasquez, who finished first in the 100 freestyle (56.49) and the 100 breaststroke (1:18.38).

Andrew De Jong paced Crescenta Valley (8-1, 3-0) in the boys’ meet. He took first in the 200 individual medley (2:08.06) and the 100 butterfly (57.72) before finishing off the meet working with Mason Takidian, James Hales and Vinh Doan to win the 400 freestyle relay (3:37.81).

Tristan Winterhalter of Crescenta Valley finished first in the 200 freestyle (1:55.41), Barkev Arslanian won the 500 freestyle (5:41.16) and Jason Kim took the 100 breaststroke (1:02.12) to help the Falcons win seven races.

Doan, Winterhalter, Kim and Ted Gonder grouped up to win the 200 medley relay (1:42.72).

Burroughs (1-1 overall and in league) had several good performances from Michael Singhanate, Nick Fiock and Alex Ueno.

Singhanate took the 50 freestyle (23 seconds), Fiock won the 100 freestyle in a personal-best time of 51 seconds and Ueno captured the 100 backstroke (1:04.19). Fiock, Ueno, Brian Cremin and Singhanate worked to capture the 200 freestyle relay (1:35.53).

Burroughs Coach Carlos Ponce said the Indians are looking to make strides throughout the season.

“I never look at the final scores because either you finished first or you didn’t,” Ponce said. “We are shooting toward the league prelims and finals.

“It’s about finding our niche. It’s about learning and getting better.”