Palos Verdes' girls swim team won the Bay League Championship meet by more than 100 points and appears primed to compete for a CIF Southern Section Division II championship. Palos Verdes is led by sophomore Chaya Zabludoff and junior Natalia Vecerek. In the Bay League final, Zabludoff tied for first in the 200 freestyle with Mira Costa's Marisa Purcell at 1:54.12 and also won the 100 butterfly (59.47). Vecerek won the 100 freestyle (53.46) and both were apart of the winning 400 freestyle relay.
Mira Costa also has a strong one-two punch in Purcell and Taylor Spivey. In the Bay League final, Purcell also won the 100 backstroke (1:00.58) and Spivey won the 500 freestyle in 5:22.29. Both were apart of Mira Costa's winning 200 freestyle relay.
On the boys side, Peninsula won the Bay League Championships by more than 70 points as the Mayfield brothers led the charge. Michael Mayfield won the 200 freestyle in 1:43.25 and his younger brother, Cory Mayfield, won the 500 freestyle in 4:43.50. Mira Costa also looks strong with the Kevins leading the way. Kevin Silberman won the 100 freestyle (47.77) and Kevin Reinhardt won the 50 freestyle (22.20) at the Bay League Championships. Both look like they could do some damage in CIF's Division II.
Boys and girls qualifiers from the Bay League and the Prep League are slated to swim in the CIF Division II preliminaries on Friday at 10 a.m., with the Division II finals taking place on Saturday at 4 p.m. Boys and girls qualifiers from the Pioneer League will compete in the Division III preliminaries on Thursday at 10 a.m., with the Division III finals taking place on Saturday at 10 a.m. At events take place at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach.
What about Division 3??
Your article "Prep Roundup: Torrance boys swim
team finishes strong at Masters" on 5-20-09 seemed to have an inaccuracy. It stated:"Torrance, the Pioneer League and CIF Southern Section Division III champion, had six swimmers earn medalist honors for a top-eight finish, the only South Bay school to have medalists". Last time I checked, El Segundo High is located in the South Bay and it had two swimmers finish well in the top-eight. Ryan Makuta finished 6th in the 100 free and Kelsey Cummings finished 3rd in the 200 free and 500 free events. And Jeff Allison came close to the top eight by finishing 10th in the 100 back. Mira Costa and PV swimmers had some good swims at the Master's meet as well. We are proud of ALL of them. Go South Bay!