FRESNO — The opponent that Santa Margarita’s girls swimmers talk most about didn’t don a colorful cap, goggles or a racing suit at the CIF State Swimming and Diving Championships.
But the adversary still lurked Saturday between the lane lines and on the starting blocks for every race.
Complacency, however, also couldn’t touch Orange County’s swimming powerhouse.
Santa Margarita arrived at Clovis West High’s Olympic complex highly motivated and raced toward a second consecutive state title and more history.
During a sizzling finals session that sunk 11 meet records in swimming, the Eagles contributed two meet records, crowned three individual champions and won two of the three relays to become the first girls team to repeat as champion.
Santa Margarita scored 230 points to outdistance runner-up Torrey Pines by 65 points despite the absence of standout senior Mackenzie Degn (sick) and an ever-growing list of accomplishments that apparently aren’t heavy for the Eagles.
“We wanted to really put in our best effort … to go fast and not just expect to win,” said Santa Margarita’s Ella Ristic, who swept the 100 and 200-yard freestyles. “Our prelims (Friday) wasn’t great but going into finals, we really fired up.”
1st-look at the two-time defending California state champs and maybe future 2019 national champs, @SMCHSswim 🏊♀️💦💯@ocvarsity @OCVswimdive @SMCHSAthletics @SMCHSEagles @swimswamnews @SwimmingWorld #andstill pic.twitter.com/I3jie7kvta
— Dan Albano (@ocvarsityguy) May 12, 2019
Ristic, a junior committed to Indiana, showed the way by rallying in the second-half of the 200 free to outduel star freshman Claire Tuggle of Clovis North to touch first in a meet-record time of 1 minute, 45.82 seconds.
She’s a state champ! #andnew Ella Ristic of @SMCHSswim wins the 200 free! @ocvarsity @OCVswimdive 🏊♀️💦💯@SMCHSAthletics pic.twitter.com/l3eozOyzTY
— Dan Albano (@ocvarsityguy) May 11, 2019
Ristic claimed a second title by out-touching Brooke Schaffer of Saint Francis in the 100 free in a lifetime-best 49.24.
“I put my head down and I wanted it for the team,” said Ristic, who didn’t captured an individual title at the CIF-SS Division 1 finals last week.
Santa Margarita’s Anicka Delgado won the 50 freestyle in a lifetime-best 22.54, missing the Orange County record by one one-hundredth of a second. She brushed within two one-hundredths of a second of the record last weekend.
.@SMCHSswim girls are on 🔥🔥🔥@anickadelgaddo wins state title in 50 free, misses OC record by one one-hundredth of a second! @ocvarsity @OCVswimdive 🏊♀️💦💯 pic.twitter.com/OfTK4jhrWQ
— Dan Albano (@ocvarsityguy) May 11, 2019
The USC-commit junior also capitalized on a scratch to make the 100 butterfly final and promptly took second in Lane 8 in 53.49.
“Lot of girls just moved up and our relays were strong,” said Santa Margarita co-coach Rich Blanc, whose girls have won six straight Division 1 titles. “We just try to keep them in the moment.”
The Eagles inserted Ristic’s twin sister, Mia, into the 200 free relay. She split a 23.15 in teaming with Delgado (22.91 leadoff), freshman Lindsay Ervin (23.11) and Ella (22.80 anchor) to blaze a meet-record 1:31.97.
In the 400 free relay, Blanc and his brother Ron inserted UC San Diego-bound Miranda Renner and the Eagles won in a swift 3:20.56. Renner split a No. 3 leg in 50.94 to team with Ella Ristic (49.40 leadoff), Ervin (50.40) and anchor Delgado (49.82) for the victory.
“What really makes us a strong team is the fact that we really do support each other,” Renner said. “We really do swim for our team and we want to represent our school well.”
Santa Margarita still recognized the threat of Torrey Pines, which in late March won the Mission Viejo Invitational. Based on a scoring of prelims, the Eagles led the San Diego power by about 37 points.
“We challenged them a little bit,” Ron Blanc said. “But we did tell them, though, that we completely trusted what they were going to be able to do. … Every person swam phenomenal.”
Orange County produced a plethora of other highlights. Foothill’s boys finished sixth, second-best for the Southern Section behind third-place Loyola. San Ramon Valley edged two-time champion Oak Ridge 177-174 for its first title.
The Knights punctuated their meet by placing sixth in the 400 free relay. The team of Chris Mykkanen, Whittaker Worland, Colin Stovner and sizzling anchor Hunter Ingram (43.81) clocked a school-record 3:03.41.
The UNLV-bound Mykkanen took second in the 500 free (school-record 4:24.46) while Crean Lutheran’s Mandy Brenner touched third in the 50 (lifetime-best 22.82) and 100 (49.88) freestyles.
Ervin touched fourth in the 50 free in a lifetime-best 22.95.
In diving, Villa Park’s Andrew Harness capped his state-title performance by recording perfect scores of 10.0 from all judges on his final five, a forward 1 1/2 somersault with one twist on the 1-meter springboard.
The finale helped the Texas-bound senior smash the meet record with an 11-dive score of 640.85. “It was a great ending,” Harness said. “That was (the) first time that has ever happened to me. Ten — bingo. That was crazy. There was an adrenaline rush for sure. … It’s a rewarding feeling.”
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