The talent on Crean Lutheran’s girls swim team was immense but that’s not the only reason the Saints stormed to a second consecutive CIF Division 3 title.
They also displayed strong team work and chemistry.
Those qualities might have surfaced best when the Saints’ so-called “B team” captured the 200-yard freestyle relay in a Division 3 record time of 1 minute, 38.17 seconds at the finals earlier this month in Riverside.
The Saints received an A for unity, and for his leadership, veteran Craig Brown is Register’s 2014 girls swim coach of the year.
RELATED:
All-County girls swimming and diving team
Santa Margarita’s McLaughlin is girls swimmer of the year
“He’s done a really good job bringing everyone together as a team,” senior Lindsey Engel said of Brown, who completed his second season at Crean Lutheran but started coaching swimming in 1966 in La Mirada.
With Engel and sisters Ella Eastin and Emily Eastin committed to other relays at CIF, Brown’s lineup for the 200 free relay featured Katia Young, Tianna Jorgenson, Rachel Taylor and Lauren Maurer.
The foursome not only set the Division 3 record but helped the Saints claim the team title by more than 200 points over runner-up Viewpoint of Calabasas.
“Awesome,” Engel said of the 200 free relay. “That’s so cool when our ‘B team’ – which is an A team by any regard – is still winning and breaking records.”
Brown focused on building team spirit throughout the season.
“We have team lunches every week,” he said. “Our diver (Division 3 boys champion Colten Young) swam. I’m sure there weren’t many other divers who swam. … The whole bonding deal, that’s what the school does. That’s what is so great about the school.”
The Saints’ speed impressed the most on relays. At CIF, the medley relay of Emily Eastin, Taylor, Ella Eastin and Engel broke Edison’s 2010 county record by 1 1/2 seconds with a 1:41.79. Like the medley relay, the 400 free relay missed the national record by about a second with a 3:21.41. The time was just two tenths of a second off JSerra’s 2013 county record and former national record of 3:21.20.
“It’s just a real team,” Brown said. “We have some superlative athletes but they’re just part of a team. If you look at us when we went in the water again (to celebrate), everybody went in. The guys went in. … When we celebrate, it’s about everybody.”
Crean Lutheran’s girls have become such a powerful unit, they’ve pushed the Academy League to Division 2 for CIF for at least the next two seasons. If Brown had his way, only the Crean girls would get promoted, not the entire league.
“For our girls, it’s OK. It’s the right thing,” he said. “For everybody else, it’s not.”
Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com
