MOVING ON: Rancho Alamitos' Samantha Cisneros qualified for Masters in the 200 freestyle. DAN ALBANO, OCVARSITY.COM |
Second-place finishes pay off for three O.C. seniors
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Rancho Alamitos' Cisneros and Hoang, and Oxford Academy's Lorey advance to Masters swim meet.
LONG BEACH Orange County didn't produce a champion at the CIF-SS Division IV swim finals Thursday night, but three county seniors left Belmont Plaza with another prestigious distinction.
Rancho Alamitos' Samantha Cisneros and Sonny Hoang and Oxford Academy's Daniel Lorey each qualified for Tuesday's Masters by placing second.
The top two finishing individuals and relays in each event in each division qualify automatically for Masters. The meet then adds the next 16 fastest times from finals regardless of division.
Cisneros was the runner-up in the 200-yard freestyle with a lifetime-best time of 1 minute, 56.02 seconds.
It's exciting my last Masters, said Cisneros, who advanced as a junior in the 100 free.
Cisneros looked strong for the first half of the race after bolting off her starting block well ahead of top-seeded Khristine Ghemigian.
Cisneros led by six-tenths of a second at the 50, but Ghemigian cut the deficit to just over a tenth of a second at the 100 and took the lead for good at the 150. She touched first in 1:53.73.
In the boys 200 free, Lorey earned his trip to Masters by rallying to touch out Brentwood's Zach Statler by nine one-hundredths of a second for second place. Lorey split his final 50 in 26.60 and finished in a lifetime-best 1:45.42.
Princeton-bound Ryan Chiu of Mark Keppel won in 1:41.54.
Lorey said he was more motivated to earn a personal best than reach Masters. He added that he might not race Tuesday.
Hoang used a strong surge in the final yards to edge Montebello's Shuichi Matsumoto by just less than three-tenths of a second for second place in 1:00.64.
Christopher Luu of Mark Keppel won in 59.39. Mark Keppel captured the boys and girls titles.
Oxford Academy's boys, runner-ups in 2007, finished fourth.
>> Read more in Girls Swimming and Boys Swimming
Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com
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