Swimming (Boys 6-0, Girls 6-0)
Laguna boys captured both freestyle relays and Zachary Cord tied Estancia’s Alex Epperson in the 100 yard backstroke for the boy’s only wins as the Breakers relied on their depth to edge Costa Mesa for Laguna’s 10thand final Orange Coast League swim title last Thursday, May 3, at the Laguna pool.
Laguna scored multiple winners in each event with four swimmers scoring in three events of the eight individual races; 200 Free, 100 Free and 100 Breast to earn the team title with 362.5 points ahead of Costa Mesa (345) Calvary (213), Estancia (170.5), Godinez (106), Saddleback (0).
Coach Kari Damato has done wonders changing the culture of Laguna swimming. Prior to her arrival in 2008, the boys team had never won a dual meet league title or a league championship meet since the sport began at Laguna in 1962.
On the girls side, as expected, the Breakers captured all eight individual titles and all three relays to swamp the Orange Coast league competition 489 to Costa Mesa’s 236 followed by Calvary (179) Estancia (152) Godinez (139) and Saddleback (61). Columbia-bound Kasey Karkoska concluded her four-year career with two titles bringing her to a total of eight career individual first place finishes in the league meet.
Breaker Event winners (Boys):
200 Free Relay: Colton Gregory, Riley Bumgardner, Nathan Solomon, James Nolan, 1:31.34
100 Backstroke: Zachary Cord 1:00.24
400 Free Relay: Colton Gregory, Nathan Solomon, John Ford, Riley Bumgardner 3:22.25
Breaker Event winners (Girls):
200 Medley Relay: Morgan Van Alphen, Cici Stewart, Gabi Denny, Bryn Gioffredi 1:58.08
200 Free: Molly Renner 1:56.35
200 IM: Ella Judd 2:09.00
50 Free: Kyla Whitelock 24.68
100 Fly: Kasey Karkoska 56.52 (new meet record)
100 Free: Kasey Karkoska 53.23
500 Free: Ella Judd 5:08.17
200 Free Relay: Kasey Karkoska, Kyla Whitelock, Molly Renner, Ella Judd 1:39.96
100 Back: Morgan Van Alphen 1:05.23
100 Breast: Cici Stewart 1:12.36
400 Free Relay: Kyla Whitelock, Ella Judd, Molly Renner, Kasey Karkoska
SS CIF D2 Swim preliminaries are May 11 and the finals are May 12 at the Riverside Aquatics Complex at Riverside City College. The 1-meter diving competition was held on Monday, May 7, and Laguna diver’s competed (Laguna does not have diving boards at their pool) with Liv Mitchell finishing third with a 487.55 score and Sahil Das finishing fifth with a 412.25 for the girls and boys, respectively. Their team points will count towards Laguna’s point total at the D2 swim finals on May 12.
