Masterful effort from Seo

LONG BEACH — No one could catch Crescenta Valley High freshman Young Tae Seo in the 200-yard individual medley in Saturday’s CIF Southern Section Division II finals. When the best swimmers from the other three Southern Section divisions were invited to take their shot on Tuesday at the 2010 CIF Masters Tournament, the result was no different.

Seo won the 200 IM on Tuesday in 1 minute 50.71 seconds, adding a Masters title to a season of individual accomplishment that included a CIF title, two league titles and several school records.

He wasn’t finished yet. Seo doubled his medal haul later in the 500 freestyle, dominating his heat through the early laps and finishing in 4:32.91 with more than enough in the tank to hold off junior Riley Mita of West Ranch (4:33.70) for the win.

“I feel pretty good winning both events,” Seo said of his debut at the Masters Meet, which pits the top two finishers per event from each divisional championship meet, plus the top 24 fastest times overall from the divisional meets, in head-to-head competition. “Today, I feel really tired, though. I had Sunday off and then two days later I had to do a meet, so I was off a little.

“I did really good without tapering, but next year I’m going to try and get a CIF record, that’s all I want.”

Seo’s heat of the 200 IM quickly turned into a two-man affair between Seo and University junior Chris Wong and Wong held a slight edge through the end of the backstroke. But Seo caught up quickly and regained the lead in the breaststroke and widened the gap to a body length going into the freestyle.

In the end, it was hardly close, as Seo beat Wong by nearly three seconds and the next fastest time in the heat was Rancho Alamitos junior Alex Cisneros’ 1:55.16.

“He’s so competitive, it’s just fun watching him when he’s down here in this environment,” Crescenta Valley Coach Jan Sakonju said.

Crescenta Valley, which finished runner-up to Oaks Christian at the Division II finals on Saturday, was well-represented overall on Tuesday, with three relay teams and a total of four individual competitors in six different events.

The Division II finals ended on Saturday with Crescenta Valley chasing Oaks Christian and the Masters meet began with more of the same.