No. 3 University conquers elements, beats No. 5 Irvine

The swimmers shivered behind the starting blocks at University on Wednesday night as the Trojans' Pacific Coast League dual meet against Irvine ended in heavy rain.

But for University's third-ranked boys, the glow of a 94-76 victory against No. 5 Irvine offered some relief against the elements.

"It was nice because last year we lost (to Irvine)," University sophomore Zach Yong said.

"(The rain) was kind of fun because we all bonded and got warm together and huddled up because it was pouring rain and freezing."

See photos from this meet: OCVarsity Hot Shots: Blazing swim times in the PCL

OCVarsity blog: Uni girls DQ relay at Millikan prelims

University's fleet raced at full strength for the first time this season and it showed.

The Trojans (3-0, 1-0) used a swift 21.67 seconds freestyle-anchor in the 200-yard medley relay by Chris Wong to take the meet's opening race in 1 minute, 39.56 seconds. Irvine didn't stack its medley but finished strong in 1:39.78.

Wong also posted victories in the 200 freestyle (1:43.13) and the butterfly (county-leading 51.12).

In the 200, Wong dueled against Irivne's Gen Yamamoto, who touched second in 1:43.14.

The Trojans got strong swims from freshman Corey Okubo and Yong, a sophomore.

Okubo touched second in the fly in 51.77 and captured the 500 in 4:43.23. Okubo trains with Wong at the Aquazot and owns the second fastest butterfly in the county.

"That's what we wanted to do," Wong said of Okubo. "And Justin Chen (of University) got third (54.34). ... That's a big event for us."

Yong rallied to edge Irvine's Kevin Barbrick by 17 one-hundredths of a second in the breaststroke with a 1:01.17.

Irvine captured the 200 and 400 freestyle relays and four other individual races but the Trojans had the depth to go with their top-end speed.

In the 200 individual medley, University's Devin Grimalda led a second-third-fourth finish for the Trojans behind winner Kyle Lee of Irvine (2:02.84).

"They're pretty good depthwise," Irvine coach Ray Wong said on University.

With its victory Wednesday, University next test will be April 8 at second-ranked and defending champion Corona del Mar. That meet will also pit University's new coach, Tom Norton, against his alma mater.

"I think we're pretty even this year, so I think we can win," Yong said of the matchup with the Sea Kings.

University's top-ranked girls (3-0, 1-0) defeated Irvine, 111-59.

Julia Ju led a sweep in the backstroke by touching in a season-best 59.97.

The Trojans also got season-best times in victories from Maggie Burton (200 IM, 2:09.80) and Olivia Evans (fly, 59.55).

University's Megan Rankin won the 200 freestyle in a quick 1:53.42. Irvine's Brianna Weinstein took second in 1:54.95 but came back to claim the 500 in 5:09.21.

In another Pacific Coast boys meet:

No. 2 Corona del Mar 127, Northwood 47: Jared Namba captured the butterfly in 51.55 and the backstroke in 53.22 to help pace the host Sea Kings.