HUNTINGTON BEACH – Edison’s boys swim team made sure Tuesday that its showdown against Los Alamitos didn’t turn out like last season.
And the Chargers made sure it wasn’t close.
No. 2 Edison placed first in eight of 11 events, including all three relays, and received double-victories from Wade Nelson and Alec Niederland to improve to 3-0 in the Sunset League with a 107-63 victory against the visiting Griffins.
Last season, Los Alamitos used dramatics in the final relay to edge Edison, 86-84, en route to capturing the league title.
“We didn’t want that feeling again,” Nelson said. “We just wanted to come back and make sure that we didn’t make any mistakes and get the win.”
The Chargers were sharp against Los Alamitos, which entered the meet 2-0 in league.
Edison placed first-second in the 200-yard medley relay and then swept the top-three places in the 200 individual medley to open an early lead, 31-15.
Nelson led the sweep in the 200 IM by stopping the clock in 1 minute, 56.51 seconds. Calvin Rogers (2:01.27) and Nelson’s brother, Zach, touched second-third in 2:01.27 and 2:03.22.
Nelson out-dueled Brad Toland to capture the 100 butterfly in 51.45. The Wyoming-bound senior used a strong underwater surge off his final turn to rally past Toland by about three tenths of a second.
Niederland swept the 50 (21.98) and 100 (49.23) freestyles.
Edison also lit up its new Colorado Timing Systems scoreboard with a few other swift times. Thomas Smith won the backstroke in 51.65 and anchored the 400 free relay to a 3:14.89.
“They have some great swimmers and they were definitely up for this,” Los Alamitos coach Randy Grimm said of Edison.
Brad Gonzales claimed a pair of close races for Los Alamitos. The sophomore held off Edison’s Thomas Gillespie by about half-a-second to claim the 200 free in 1:44.24. He also held off Rogers in the 500 to touch first in 4:45.01.
Gillespie’s 200 free was a season best.
Newport Harbor transfer Ryan Warde also debuted for Edison, anchoring the second-place medley relay, racing on the winning 200 free relay (1:29.95) and contributing to the runner-up 400 free relay.
Edison’s girls improved to 3-0 in league with a 100-70 victory over Los Alamitos. The No. 3 Chargers collected eight first-place finishes and got double-victories from freshman Nora Deleske and sophomore Taylor Newton.
Deleske rallied to edge teammate Devin Newton in the 200 IM by a tenth of a second with a first-place 2:06.97.
Devin Newton and Deleske later helped seal the meet victory by claiming the backstroke (1:01.12) and breaststroke (1:05.70), respectively.
Taylor Newton swept the 50 (25.45) and 100 (54.74) freestyles.
Los Alamitos’ girls also beat Edison last season.
“We had to get really pumped up for this meet,” Devin Newton said. “We’re (also) really stressing the Fountain Valley meet (April 29). That should be a really good one for us because they have Carly Perri.”
Nicqueline Rettberg won the 200 (1:55.82) and 500 (5:05.53) freestyles for Los Alamitos’ girls, who fell to 1-2 in league.
Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com
