BIG DAY: Villa Park's Josh Samuels qualified third and fifth in the 50 and 100 freestyles at CIF-SS Division II swim prelims at Belmont Plaza on Thursday. DAN ALBANO, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER |
Samuels delivers more fast times at Division II prelims
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The busy Villa Park junior improves his time again in the 50 freestyle.
LONG BEACH Josh Samuels' Spring Aquatics Tour stopped at the CIF-SS Division II swim prelims Thursday and promptly delivered fast times.
The Villa Park junior sliced almost fourth-tenths of a second off his entry time in the
50-yard freestyle to qualify third with a time of 21.58 seconds at Belmont Plaza.
Samuels added about three-quarters of a second to his top-seeded entry time in the 100 free, but his 47.72 still advanced him to Saturday's 4 p.m. final with a share of the fifth seed.
Samuels, a standout water polo player, has been practicing or playing for three water polo teams this spring while training and racing with Villa Park's swim team.
The 16-year-old has been playing water polo in the Premier League for Newport Water Polo Foundation. He also has been spending time with his club team, SOCAL, and the U.S. national team Saturdays.
“Ongoing fun,” said Samuels, who helped lead Villa Park to a boys water polo title in the fall. “This Saturday, my main thing is swimming. I'll come in focused.”
In other results, Brea Olinda senior Annika Games qualified second to Westlake's Aislinn Smalling in the 200 freestyle with a lifetime-best 1:52.64. Games is the defending champion in the backstroke and qualified third in 57.77.
Sunny Hills junior Jacob Neller used a strong finish in the 500 free to qualify third in a lifetime-best 4:37.42.
Laguna Beach's girls 400 free relay of Andrea Reigel, Taylor Dodson, Annika Dries and Chelsea Wild dropped about 71/2 seconds from their entry time to qualify fourth in 3:38.47.
Wild scratched the 500 free because of illness.
Troy's Michele Kee is seeded fourth in the 100 free with a 52.86. Loyola's boys and Hart's girls are the favorites for the team titles.
>> Read more in Boys Swimming and Girls Swimming
Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com
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