Sailors’ amazing Ayla

Ayla Spitz had not really heard of Cindy Tran before last week’s Sunset League swimming finals.

But Tran, the former Edison High star who went on to become a two-time NCAA champion in the backstroke at Cal, has one of those names that means something in Orange County high school swimming.

More precisely, when a record of someone like Tran gets broken, people take notice. And that’s what Spitz did on May 5 at Golden West College. The Newport Harbor sophomore swam a lifetime-best time of 54.16 seconds to win the 100-yard backstroke, breaking Tran’s 2008 meet record in the event by more than a second.

In the 100 freestyle, Spitz was no less impressive, also winning that event at Sunset League in another lifetime-best time of 49.64. That time ranked sixth in Orange County history. And she anchored two impressive relays. The Newport Harbor 200 medley relay team of Ayla, her twin sister Zoe, Kili Skibby and Dinny Stevens touched in another meet-record time of 1:45.76, lowering their own school record.

The Spitz sisters, Stevens and Carly Yasko were a close second to Marina in the meet-ending 400 freestyle relay, but not before Ayla nearly caught her friend and Novaquatics club teammate, Sage Matsushima of Marina, on the anchor leg.

For Ayla Spitz, this was all in a day’s work. In the span of three hours, the Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week showed just how good she is.

“It was definitely good to be back down in the freestyle to where I was last season, and then I dropped a bit in the backstroke from my best time,” she said. “And all of our relays went super-well. I mean, the 400 free relay, that was so close. But that was a good race. I’m glad we had Marina pushing us, because we probably wouldn’t have gone as fast if we didn’t have them next to us. Everyone stepped up in that one.”

Ayla values the team’s success, and the Sailors have their best team in at least 15 years. They not only won the Battle of the Bay meet against rival Corona del Mar this year, but they won every single event. Ayla provided another highlight, swimming an off event in the 100 breaststroke but setting another school record.

It’s probably best to use pencil, not pen, on that record board for the next couple of years.

“I mean, she’s pretty close to all of [the school records],” Newport girls’ swim coach Brian Melstrom said. “She could really break anything up there [on the board]. For her to do that last week in the 100 free was pretty cool, to go under 50 [seconds] and break a record when she was not tapered.”

Spitz will be tapered and ready for her final high school meet of the season, the CIF Southern Section Division 1 finals Saturday night at Riverside City College. She has made the championship final in both of her individual events, qualifying third in the 100 free at preliminaries and fifth in the 100 backstroke. She also will swim anchor on the Sailors’ 200 and 400 freestyle relays, which qualified fourth and fifth, respectively.

Ayla has confidence in her two individual events, especially after last year, when she finished second in the 100 free at CIF finals and fourth in the backstroke. It is safe to say that she enjoys the competitive nature of the meet, but she also is realistic.

“I don’t really have any expectations,” she said. “It would be nice to drop [time], but you can’t drop every time. All of these girls from all of the other schools are super-fast. To be up there in the top three you have to have a really good meet, at such a competitive meet like CIF. I mean, our CIF is one of the fastest meets in the country.”

As a team, the Sailors are also setting up for their top team finish in Melstrom’s tenure. With Zoe Spitz and Dinny Stevens both in the consolation finals of their respective events, they aim for a top-10 finish in Division 1, maybe even top five. And Newport Harbor will not lose any of these top club swimmers to graduation next season.

“We’ve definitely improved so much,” Ayla Spitz said. “I mean, just CdM from last year to this year. Last year, we beat them for the first time [since 2010], but this year, we won every single event. That shows such great improvement. And then we have all of these water polo girls, Kili [Skibby] and Annie [Rankin], who are stepping up at league finals and did really well. I mean, Carly and Dinny did awesome this year. We’re definitely getting better each year.”

So is Ayla individually. Even in a loaded league like the Sunset League, this season she stood out.

“She’s very technically sound,” Melstrom said. “I don’t think there’s another swimmer, even in the Sunset League, that has the start, the turn, the under-waters that she has. She’s just a little bit more fine-tuned than the rest of them, and that’s why she’s winning everything I put her in. Even in the 100 freestyle, right off the start at Sunset League [finals], she dives in, she’s streamlining, and she comes up a foot and a half ahead of everybody.

“That’s it. It’s lights out from there. You’re not going to catch her.”

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Ayla Spitz

Born: Jan. 8, 2001

Hometown: Newton, Mass.

Height: 5-foot-7

Sport: Swimming

Year: Sophomore

Coach: Brian Melstrom

Favorite food: Sushi

Favorite movie: “The Incredibles”

Favorite athletic moment: Winning the 200 medley relay with Kili Skibby, Zoe Spitz and Dinny Stevens at the Sunset League finals last week, setting a new meet and school record.

Week in review: Spitz won the 100-yard freestyle and 100 backstroke at Sunset League finals, lowering her school-record times in each event and setting meet records. She was also on the meet record-setting 200 medley relay team and the second-place 400 free relay team

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Twitter: @mjszabo