CV clinches titles

LA CRESCENTA — The Pacific League title, or a guaranteed share of it at least, came down the final dual meet of the season for the boys’ and girls’ swimming teams from Crescenta Valley High and archrival Arcadia.

All four squads entered the meet undefeated in league and by the end of the day only the Falcons remained so, with the Crescenta Valley boys’ team cruising to a 101 1/2 -68 1/2 win and the girls’ team pulling away late for a 96-74 victory.

“It’s inspirational to see all four levels at CV today step up their competitiveness, so we’ll feed off of that and take that momentum,” said Crescenta Valley boys’ Coach Jan Sakonju, whose team (7-0 in league) clinched at least a share of the league title for the 18th straight year behind double-winners Young Tae Seo, Harrison Thai and Andrew De Jong. “This is always a big meet, our schools in all the sports have that rivalry, and so they do get that focused. As a coach, all you have to do is remind them of what week it is and they step it up.”

Crescenta Valley’s girls’ team (7-0) avenged a dual-meet finale loss to Arcadia from last season and locked up at least a share of the league crown for the third year in a row with double-winners Robin Yi and Julia Warden leading the way.

Both Falcons teams will have a chance to clinch outright titles with a win in the league championship meet at Burbank High, which begins with preliminaries on Tuesday and concludes on May 6.

They know what’s at stake [against Arcadia],” Falcons girls’ Coach Robert Miller said.

The girls’ competition began with Arcadia jumping out to an early lead with a win in the 200-yard medley relay.

Yi helped the Falcons move back ahead, 41-37, with wins in the 200-individual medley in 2 minutes 19.09 seconds and the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:02.22.

Warden won the 100 freestyle in 55.63 to keep the Falcons out in front, but Arcadia pulled dangerously close again at 63-61 with a win in the 200-freestyle relay.

Crescenta Valley ran the table over the last three events to secure the win, with Warden taking first in the 100 backstroke in 1:04.09, Adrienne Ingalla winning the 100 breaststroke in 1:14.98 and the team of Warden, Ingalla, Yi and Kim Fraisse winning the 400-freestyle relay in 3:55.99.