Beard Sets 2 League Records as Irvine Dominates

Irvine High senior Amanda Beard broke two Sea View League records during the girls’ league finals at Heritage Aquatics Complex in Irvine Friday.

Beard, a silver medalist in the 100 and 200 meter breaststroke at the 1996 Olympics, set league records in the 100 breaststroke and the 100 butterfly, a stroke she has recently developed into one of her two main events.

Her time in the 100 breaststroke, 1 minute 3.62 seconds, broke her record time of 1:03.83 she set at league finals in 1996. Her butterfly time of 56.88 eclipsed her 57.05 at Tuesday’s preliminaries.

While she is still off her 1:01 time she did during the Southern Section Finals in 1996, Friday’s time was her best this year.

As expected, Irvine won its fourth consecutive Sea View League title with 660 points. Santa Margarita (427) was second and El Toro (327) was third.

Sophomore Kaitlin Sandeno of El Toro won the 200 individual medley in a record time of 2:03.10, which broke Beard’s 1998 record by .40. Sandeno also set a meet record in the 500 freestyle, shattering her own record from Tuesday’s preliminaries by six seconds.

Erin Zehntner of Irvine won the 200 freestyle in a league-record 1:53.04.

The Irvine boys also won the league title with 593 points. It was Irvine’s fifth consecutive title. Corona del Mar (373) was second and Newport Harbor (349) was third.

Daniel Kim, setting a league record, won the 100 breaststroke in 56.41, which broke his Thursday prelim time of 56.56.