Capistrano Valley Sweeps Mission Viejo in South Coast Swim Meet

Mission Viejo swim coach Jeff Boss stated before Tuesday’s home meet against South Coast League rival Capistrano Valley that he thought the girls races would be very close. 
 
Boss just didn’t think it would be that close. 
 
Boss’ prophecy proved true, but his third-ranked Diablos were on the losing end of an 85.5 to 84.5 upset victory by Capistrano Valley in a South Coast League meet Tuesday afternoon at Mission Viejo High. The Cougars' boys team, the defending CIF Southern Section Division 1 champions, won handily, 113-57.

"I thought our girls did a good job and it was a great meet to watch,” Boss said.
 
The Diablos beat the Cougars to the wall in eight of the 11 events, but the Cougars took second and third in five of those eight races and won the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:44.38), the 200 free and the 100 breaststroke to earn their victory. 
 
“That was a good win,” Capistrano Valley coach Steve Yancey said. “They are a good team and we knew we had to be at our best today, and I thought the girls did a great job of competing.” 
 
The closest race of the day occurred in the 200 free relay. The back-and-forth battle featured several lead changes and had the Diablos barley ahead after the third leg, but Capistrano Valley's freshman anchor, Brooke Lorentzen, blazed passed Mission Viejo’s anchor, Leah Atkins, to finish with split times of 25.22 and 25.51, respectively. The Cougars won by only four-tenths of a second, 1:44.38 to 1:44.77. 
 
“I knew we hit the water at the same time,” Lorentzen said. “I just wanted to keep pace with her and then have enough for a kick at the end.” 
 
Lorentzen also won the 200 free in 1:54.86, edging out a familiar foe in Mission Viejo junior Marina Spadoni (1:55.44) in another tight race. 
 
“Our coaches put us in lanes at the opposite end of the pool so we wouldn’t be worried about the other one,” Lorentzen said. “But I know from club and knew she was the one I needed to beat. It was a great race.” 
 
Mission Viejo junior Taylor Guy won the 200 individual medley (2:14.16) and 200 butterfly (1:00.68) in CIF-qualifying times and swam on the winning 200 medley (1:54.81) and the 400 free (3:46.10) relay teams, also in CIF-qualifying times. 
 
Guy smoked her competition, winning the 200 IM by more than nine seconds ahead of the next finisher and the 100 fly by more than three seconds. 
 
“I thought we were going to win the meet,” Guy said. “I think we just needed to get one more person to place and we would have won. I think that we should be ready for them at [South Coast League] finals.” 
 
There was very little drama in the boys competition as Orange County’s top-ranked team won eight of 11 events, paced by double-winner Logan Redondo, who won the 200 free (1:43.34) and 500 free (4:36.23) in CIF-qualifying times. 
 
“He is one of our best swimmers,” Yancey said. “He gets us going and the other kids look up to him, even though he is just a sophomore.” 
 
The most exciting race of the day occurred in the final event, the 400 free relay. Capistrano Valley held a slight lead heading into the final leg when Diablo sprinting star Steven Ewoldt put in the fastest split of the day (46.35), a full three seconds faster than Cougar anchor Matt Chalcarz (49.16). 
 
“He is so fast,” Capistrano Valley senior Joey Ferreri said. “I’ve known him since we were little kids and he has always been able to do whatever he wants. He is really fun to watch.” 
 
Capistrano Valley's Brian Wiesbecker, a sophomore, won the 200 IM (2:01.78), Tyler Testman won the 50 free (22.07) and Slater Goodman won the 100 breast (1:03.17), each in a CIF-qualifying time.