Lindsey Engel went to the CIF swim meet her freshman season at Crean Lutheran with just three teammates.
The Saints’ roster has grown since, as their performance at the 42nd Foothill Swim Games showed Saturday.
Crean Lutheran entered 12 girls in the meet and finished tied with Tesoro for third place.
“We definitely have a much strong and deeper team this year, which is really exciting,” Engel said. “My freshman year, we had four girls and now we’re up to 12 to 14-ish.
Last season, the Saints captured their first CIF Division 3 title with five swimmers scoring to go along with top-seven divers Madison Young and Kiley Carlson.
Crean Lutheran is still led by the trio of Engel and Ella and Emily Eastin but the supporting cast now features at least three other swimmers who look like potential point-scorers at CIF.
Freshman Rachel Taylor placed eight and in the 200-yard individual medley (2:13.96) and fourth in the breaststroke (1:07.14) at the Foothill Swim Games.
Sophomore Tianna Jorgenson touched seventh in the 50 freestyle (24.94) and 10th in the butterfly (58.82).
And freshman Katia Young took ninth in the 200 free (1:57.30) and fifth in the 100 backstroke (59.01).
The Saints also have welcomed back junior Lauren Mauer, who won the 200 and 500 freestyles in Division 3 as a freshman. She was 10th in the 200 free (2:01.14) at the Foothill Swim Games.
While the larger roster should make Crean Lutheran formidable next month at CIF, Ella Eastin is excited about another advantage.
“It’s also fun to have a big team,” she said.
EDISON SET TO DEBUT SCOREBOARD
Edison’s Colorado Timing Systems scoreboard will make its debut on Tuesday at the Chargers play host to Los Alamitos in a key Sunset League meet.
The board, which is mounted to the gymnasium, was donated by T.J.T. foundation.
McLAUGHLIN DEBUT PUSHED BACK
Katie McLaughlin won’t make her anticipated debut with Santa Margarita at JSerra on Thursday. The junior, who recently transferred from JSerra, will be among the swimmers at the U.S. junior national team camp at Colorado. She departs for the camp on Thursday morning, her father, Jamie, said.
McLaughlin could race for the Eagles on April 15 when they play host to St. Joseph of Lakewood.
MORE SPEED FOR THE FLEET
Emily Boggess was Santa Margarita’s top girls performer at the Foothill Swim Games. The sophomore finished third in the 200 free (1:52.56) and second in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.32) to help the Eagles defend their title. She earned automatic CIF Division 1 qualifying times in both events.
