CIF sights are set high

Swimming: Likes of CV boys, Glendale's Mowry, Tologs look to make a splash.

May 09, 2012|By Gabriel Rizk

Whether chasing a CIF Southern Section divisional team title like the Crescenta Valley High boys, an individual crown like Glendale's Mickey Mowry or somewhere in between like Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, today and Friday's divisional preliminaries at Riverside Aquatics Center can't be overlooked.

That's where seeds are established and cuts are made with a top-20 finish in each heat required just to advance to Saturdays finals at the same venue and a top-10 finish needed in order to compete for big points and individual titles.

The Falcons boys have expectations in both areas, as they boast enough depth to be considered a legitimate contender for the Division II crown in the meet that begins on Saturday at 10 a.m. and have some of the highest seeded relays and individuals in the division for Friday's prelims.

Crescenta Valley made no bones about its aspirations for a title last season and after coming up short in third place, the determination has galvanized. The core trio of that team is still intact and all eyes figure to be fixed on Young Tae Seo, Harrison Thai and Louis Wojociechowski when they are in the water. But with Wojociechowski set to leave for college in the fall, the window may be closing ever so slightly on this group's hope for an extended run.

"The guys are kind of evolving because they know how last year went, how we were favored going into prelims and how we didn't have that great of a prelims, which opened the door for El Segundo," Crescenta Valley Coach Jan Sakonju said. "This year Damien is really I think the team to beat. We just need to make sure we do our job on Friday and get everybody qualified. We need every single person we can."

Seo, a multiple CIF titlist over his stellar first two years at CV, is the top seed in the 500-yard freestyle with a seed time of 4 minutes 31.02 seconds and the 100 breaststroke (57.78), while Thai is seeded No. 1 in the 200-individual medley (1:51.68) and second in the 100 backstroke (51.16). Wojociechowski is seeded second in the 100 freestyle (46.33) and third in the 50 freestyle (21.18).

All three standouts figure to swim in some combination on the top-seeded 400-freestyle relay (3:10.66) team or the second-seeded 200-medley relay (1:37.89) team.

Also, making sure lower-seeded swimmers make the cut for finals will be another key for the Falcons in bolstering their team title hopes.

1 | 2 | Next

|

|

|