Killer Whales are Undefeated Three Years in a Row

This past Saturday, July 25th, the Newport Hills Killer Whales had already locked up first place in the South Coast Swim Conference, yet the big question was whether they could go undefeated for the third straight season. In their path toward another perfect year were the Harbor View Dolphins.

When these two friendly rivals come face to face, regardless of their record or the year, all bets are off, as swimmers from both teams often swim their best times of the season at these local meets, and competitors put all other scheduling conflicts on ice so that they can participate in this Newport Beach neighborhood standoff. The stage was set, and the Dolphins were yearning to play the spoiler role.

If you are a swimming fan, the entire meet, from start to finish, was a great day. In addition, the format of the meet provided additional drama. Contrary to most meets, where each stroke event starts with the youngest swimmers and ends with the older swimmers, and that structure continues through each individual stroke event, this meet began with swimmers eleven and above swimming all of their four strokes and two relays in the morning, and ended with the ten and under swimmers competing in all their events in the afternoon.

The Newport Hills 11-12 Boys foursome of Taylor Cortens, Danny Robertson, Brett Greenlee and Nick Schroeder started the meet with a strong statement, setting a new team record in the Medley Relay with a time of 2:04.53, breaking the old team record set in 2007 by Blake Motal, Nick Furgatch, Christian Garkani and Richie Barden. The Killer Whales earned more team points than the Dolphins in both the 11-12 and 13-14 age groups during the morning session, however, the Dolphins put together a strong showing in their 15-18 age group, and had a narrow lead as the afternoon began.

With the ten and under swimmers, the tide began to move in favor of the Killer Whales, as they won more team points in all of the afternoon age groups---Under 6, 7-8 and 9-10---- with the 9-10 Boys squad winning their age group by a score of 92-23. Both teams had numerous standouts, but at the end of the day, the Killer Whales were too deep for the courageous Dolphins, and won by a score of 711-615.

Four Newport Hills swimmers were three-time winners in individual events. In the 7-8 Girls, Chloe Harbilas won the 25 Freestyle, the 25 Backstroke and the 50 Freestyle, and in the 9-10 Boys Henry Wilde was victorious in the 25 Butterfly, the 50 Backstroke and the 100 Individual Medley. Taylor Cortens, in the 11-12 Boys, swam to wins in the 50 Butterfly, the 50 Backstroke and the 100 Individual Medley and in the 13-14 Boys, Christian Garkani grabbed the blue ribbon in the 50 Freestyle, the 50 Butterfly and the 100 Individual Medley----breaking the old team Butterfly record set by Patrick White of 25.23 in 2004 with a time of 24.85.

The Killer Whales also had five swimmers who were two-time winners in individual events, with three of them setting new team records. In the Under 6 Girls, Bianca Bays was first in both the 25 Breaststroke and the 25 Butterfly, while Speedy Laster won the 25 Freestyle and the 25 Backstroke in the Under 6 Boys. Madeline Musselman won both the 50 Freestyle and the 100 Individual Medley, and her second place finish in the 25 Butterfly still ended up being a new team record of 14.37, which broke the old team record of 14.52 set in 1995 by Niki Hendrickson. Brianna Daboub was a gold medal winner in both the 50 Breaststroke and the 50 Backstroke for the 11-12 Girls, and broke her own team record set two weeks before in the 50 Backstroke with a time of 32.03. In the 15-18 Girls, Hollace Barden won both the 50 Freestyle and the 50 Butterfly, setting a new team record in the 50 Freestyle, breaking her own record set in June of this year, with a new time of 26.13.

Individual event winners for Newport Hills included Lauren Hughes (25 Freestyle) in the Under 6 Girls, Tommy Bethel (25 Butterfly) in the Under 6 Boys, Sophie Wallace (25 Breaststroke) and Hana Cloherty (25 Butterfly) in the 7-8 Girls, Connor McManigal (25 Backstroke) in the 7-8 Boys, Lauren Openshaw (50 Breaststroke) in the 9-10 Girls, JT Russell (50 Freestyle) and Rourke Funke (50 Breaststroke) in the 9-10 Boys, Natalie Wilde (100 Individual Medley) in the 11-12 Girls, Brett Greenlee (50 yard Freestyle) in the 11-12 Boys, Lauren Dean (50 yard Butterfly) in the 13-14 Girls, Nick Furgatch (50 Breaststroke) in the 13-14 Boys and Graham Wickens (100 Individual Medley) in the 15-18 Boys.

Three Harbor View swimmers were three-time winners for the Dolphins in individual events. In the 7-8 Boys, Alexander Taxman was a winner in the 25 Freestyle, the 25 Butterfly and the 50 Freestyle, Jules Pouch won the 50 Freestyle, the 50 Breaststroke and the 100 Individual Medley in the 13-14 Girls and in the 15-18 Girls, Pippa Saunders grabbed the winning ribbon in the 50 Breaststroke, the 50 Backstroke and the 100 Individual Medley.

Matt Berry in the 15-18 Boys won both the 50 Freestyle and 50 Butterfly, and Abby Nutt (25 Backstroke) in the Under 6 Girls, Tristan Hook (25 Breaststroke) in the Under 6 Boys, Luke Chelf (25 Breaststroke) in the 7-8 Boys, Kelly Siegel (with a spectacular race in the 25 Butterfly) and Alexandra Osterberg (50 Backstroke) in the 9-10 Girls, Anna Pisors (50 Freestyle) and Madalyn Ruiz (50 Butterfly) in the 11-12 Girls, Ricky Zak (50 Breaststroke) in the 11-12 Boys, Delaney Pouch (50 Backstroke) in the 13-14 Girls, Jake Wyatt (50 Backstroke) in the 13-14 Boys, and Westley Sherburne (50 Breaststroke) and Ari Marks (50 Backstroke) in the 15-18 Boys were all winners in individual events for the Dolphins.

To finish off the meet, there were two relays between parents from both teams----first the dads and then the moms. In both races, numerous collegiate and Olympian swimming and water polo stars put on quite an exhibition for all of the swimmers and fans. After their great show, it was no wonder that numerous team records had been set that afternoon.

Both the Newport Hills Killer Whales and the Harbor View Dolphins finish off their season by participating in the South Coast Swim Conference Finals this Saturday, August 1st, at Corona del Mar High School, with races beginning at 9:00 AM.