RIVERSIDE – Four national high school records. Four Orange County marks. Eight Division 1 standards.
The CIF Division 1 swim meet delivered all that Saturday night, thanks in large part to Orange County.
But the county’s contributions didn’t stop there. Santa Margarita’s girls and University’s boys each powered to dominating team titles at Riverside City College.
The records and championships sparked wild celebrations. Santa Margarita’s girls made victory plunges from the diving tower while record-setter Corey Okubo took selfies from the awards presentation on the bulkhead.
“It’s hard to imagine the state meet next year being better than this,” Santa Margarita girls co-coach Rich Blanc said. “(But) I’m sure it will.”
Santa Margarita’s Katie McLaughlin and Saugus’ Abbey Weitzeil – both juniors – help set the bar high enough that the inaugural state meet will have to sizzle to match Saturday.
McLaughlin blazed to the national high school record in the 100-yard butterfly with a lifetime-best time of 51.78 seconds, breaking the 2011 record of 51.92 set by Palo Alto’s Jasmine Tosky, now at USC. Tosky grabbed the record from Olympic gold medalist Misty Hyman.
McLaughlin slightly shook her head in disbelief as her time was announced to the buzzing crowd.
“(The race) didn’t really feel like I was going to go a 51, so when I touched and saw 51, I was definitely surprised,” she said. “I think it was probably my teammates being there (that helped me).”
Weitzeil set national records in the 50 (21.98) and 100 (47.82) freestyles, including twice in the 100 free thanks to a relay leadoff.
With the meet format, there were national records in three consecutive girls finals.
“Fastest high school meet in the nation, right there,” University boys coach Tom Norton said.
McLaughlin also lowered her county and Division 1 records in the 200 free to 1:44.66, which outdistanced runner-up Daniela Georges of Woodbridge (1:45.89) by more than a second.
McLaughlin was equally as impressive on the relays. She rallied the 200 and 400 free relays to victories by blasting eye-popping anchors. McLaughlin split a 48.46 to team with Elizabeth Devitt, Sydney Franzen and Emily Boggess for a 3:24.32 in the 400.
McLaughlin split a 22.11 in the 200 free relay to combine with Camryn Barry, Raquel Remick and Devitt on a first-place 1:34.64.
Santa Margarita finished with 280 points – well-above its projected 263.5 – to outdistance two-time defending champion JSerra, which scored 209 for the runner-up plaque.
University’s boys medley again sparked the Trojans, who captured their first Division 1 crown. The team of Daniel Tran, Michael Schiffer, Okubo and Will Hofstadter lowered their Division 1 and county records with a time of 1:30.10, which outdistanced runner-up Loyola by two seconds.
The victory helped University rack up 337 points to outdistance runner-up Loyola of Los Angeles at 246.
And in another sign of the meet’s strength, Okubo lowered his county record and Division 1 records by capturing the 200 individual medley in a lifetime-best 1:45.42. Liam Karas of Corona del Mar, who is headed with Okubo to Princeton, also touched under Okubo’s Division 1 record (1:46.92 from prelims) and Okubo’s county record (1:46.87 from league finals).
Okubo finished second in the 100 butterfly to Division 1-record setter Alex Valente of Dos Pueblos (46.69) but his runner-up of 47.53 moved him past Tom Shields of Edison fame to No. 2 in county history.
“We had records broken in almost every event,” Okubo said. “It was really fun to watch everyone race.”
Orange County’s champions also included Santa Margarita rising sophomore Grant Shoults in the 200 free (1:35.99), Georges in the 500 free (4:45.94), Capistrano Valley’s Nick Norman in the 500 free (4;23.02), Foothill’s Courtney Mykkanen defending her title in the back (55.12) and Corona del Mar’s Tyler Lin in the breaststroke (55.53).
Shoults’ school-record time moved him to fourth in county history.
Tran jumped to No. 4 all-time in the 100 backstroke by taking fourth in the 48.77 while Edison’s Thomas Smith (49.09) took fifth in the race and fifth on the all-time county list.
Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com
