SWIMMING: Congratulations to the La Canada boys swimming team for winning CIF-SS Division II team title on Saturday. Flintridge Sacred Heart girls finish second

Spartans pull off repeat
La Canada boys victorious at CIF-SS Division II swim finals

By Scott Galetti Staff Writer
LONG BEACH - The golden ring dangled over Belmont Plaza Pool for La Canada High School's taking.
And the Spartans were confident that they could repeat as champions at Saturday's CIF-Southern Section Division II swimming and diving championships.
La Canada did just that, shrugging off a sluggish performance at Thursday's prelims to collect its second consecutive title.
The Spartans finished with 281 points. Loyola (197.50) placed second, and Damien (144) was third.
"I think it's absolutely great," Spartans coach Art Lopez said of his team's repeat performance. "Thursday we had a little shaky start with some of our swims, but the guys worked hard and came back at the end to pull it off at the finals where it counted."
Flintridge Sacred Heart's girls team (147) finished second behind Westlake (147).
La Canada's foursome of Ian Mirisola, Christian Lawrence, Jerrold Lee and Devon Borisoff set the Division II meet record in the boys 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1 minute, 35.92 seconds. Damien set the previous record in 2001 (1:35.96).
"It's more than I could hope for," said Borisoff, who pulled away from Hart's Andrew Skvarna to close out the victory. "Those guys all swam their best times of the year and gave me that lead going in, and I knew if I had a lead I would have the win."
Winning became contagious as Mirisola posted a personal-best time of 1:52.21 to win the boys 200 IM.
"The whole thing was sheer put it all out there right from the beginning," said Mirisola, who touched the pad just ahead of Pasadena Poly's Andrew Saeta (1:52.29).
"My legs and arms were pretty much dead so I just forced it through."
Saeta used his 6-foot-6 frame to finish ahead of Alemany's Tony Cox and Mirisola to win the boys 100 backstroke.
It was Saeta's second consecutive Division II title in the event and his time of 49.46 broke Aaron Piersol's Southern California age 15-16 record. Piersol is the world-record holder in the 100-meter backstroke.
"I just wanted to go under 50 and have fun, and that's what racing's all about," Saeta said. "I'm just happy to defend back to back because that's (the 100 backstroke) my specialty."
On the girls side, Flintridge Sacred Heart's team of Briana Swinney, Andrea Knopp, Tricia Dobson and Alexandra Marquez opened the meet in style by winning the girls 200-yard medley relay in 1:50.11.
"We wanted to get first, and what went through my mind was just try my best and bring it home," Marquez said.
Tologs freshman Andrea Kropp became the school's first individual title holder by taking first in the girls 100 breaststroke in 1:03.69. She also finished third in the girls 200 IM, and the team of Dobson, Marquez, Swinney and Kropp closed out the meet by winning the girls 400 freestyle relay to move the Tologs from third to second.
"It was so exciting, and we didn't expect it," Flintridge Sacred Heart coach Garry Appel said. "We figured maybe third place, but the two relays swam unbelievable."
*San Marino’s James Gillette was third in the boys 200 free, while La Canada’s Julian Lawrence was fifth. Lawrence also was fifth in the boys 200 IM, fourth in the 500 free and fourth in the 100 breaststroke.
*Borisoff place third in the boys 50 free and fifth in the 100 free and joined Peter Chi, Chris Myers and Wes Lewis to finish third in the boys 200 freestyle relay.
*San Marino’s boys team finished 14th, while Pasadena Poly was 21st.