CdM boys, Uni girls post victories in fast PCL duel

Corona del Mar's second-ranked boys swim team built momentum for an upcoming regional showdown by taking care of business in its home pool Friday.

The Sea Kings used their strength in the 50- and 100-yard freestyles to handle No. 3 University, 99-71, in a fast Pacific Coast League dual meet.

University's No. 2 girls won, 104-66.

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OCVarsity Hot Shots: Uni-CdM duel in the pool

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UC Santa Barbara commit Matt Berry led a first-second-third sweep for Corona del Mar in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.78 seconds.

The senior also teamed with Ari Marks to give the Sea Kings a first-second finish in the 100 free. Berry out-touched Marks by a two-hundredths of a second to place first in 47.81.

"CdM is tough," University senior Chris Wong said. "They have a lot of freestylers."

Corona del Mar (4-0, 4-0) captured the 200 free relay in season best as Berry (22.06), Christian Garkani (22.17), Blake Motal (22.41) and Ari Marks (21.63) combined for a 1:28.27.

"(Freestyle) is one of our strengths," Berry said. "We were pretty pumped (for University)."

The Sea Kings also showed their strength in the stroke events. Jared Namba clocked a 52.60 to touch first in the backstroke while John Kim took the breaststroke in a county-leading 1:00.14.

Corona del Mar's next meet is April 19 against top-ranked Capistrano Valley and Loyola of Los Angeles in a double dual.

"It's going to be fast," Berry said of the meet.

Corona del Mar will arrive at the Capistrano Valley meet just a few days removed from spring break.

"It will be a good measuring stick," Corona del Mar coach Barry O'Dea said of the meet, which features the top-three finishing teams from last year's CIF-SS Division 1 finals.

Wong and freshman Corey Okubo clocked county-leading times for University (5-1, 3-1). Okubo lowered his county-leading time in the 200 IM outdueling Kim to touch in 1:54.39. Kim stopped the clock at 1:54.80, the second-fastest time in the county.

Wong lowered his county-leading time in the 100 butterfly to an All-America consideration 50.58 seconds. Namba touched second in 51.89.

University's girls captured 7 of 11 events to improved to 6-0, 4-0. Megan Rankin doubled for the Trojans by capturing the 200 (1:54.37) and 500 (4:57.36) freestyles. The junior reached the All-America consideration standard in the 500.

Maggie Burton led a first-second-third sweep for University in the breaststroke by clocking a 1:06.19.

Corona del Mar's Brynne Wong won the 50 free in a season-best 24.21 and blazed a county-leading 57.85 to take the butterfly.

El Toro top-seeded

El Toro qualified first in the medley (1:45.12) and 200 free (1:32.25) during prelims for the Foothill Swim Games.

The finals are today beginning at 10 a.m.

Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com