Swimming: Hart's girls open Div. III finals setting a meet record

The Newhall Hart girls’ swimming team opened the Southern Section-Toyota Division II finals in record-breaking fashion and ended it as team champion.

The Indians scored 207.50 points at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach, easily outdistancing runner-up Westlake, which had 165. Flintridge Sacred Heart was third with 139.

Hart won the meet-opening 200-yard medley relay in 1 minute 47.81 seconds, surpassing the previous meet record of 1:48.59 set by Corona del Mar three years ago. Sophomore Maggie Hanson led off, followed by junior Jordan Danny, senior Rachael Krager and junior Rachael Stoffel.

Danny also set a meet record in the 100 breaststroke, winning in 1:01.96 to better the three-year-old mark of 1:02.71 set by Stephanie Gabert of Corona del Mar.

Danny said she didn’t consider herself fast enough to break the record until last week, when she finally swam under 1:04.

"I skipped right over the 1:02s," she said.

Hart also bettered the meet record in the 200 freestyle relay. Unfortunately for the Indians, Westlake was even faster, finishing in 1:37.80. Runner-up Thousand Oaks finished in 1:38.34, followed by Hart in 1:38.46. The previous record was 1:38.84 set by Irvine University in 2005.

Another girls’ individual meet record was broken by junior Yumi So of Crescenta Valley.

So said she felt lazy when she woke Saturday morning, but once she splashed into the tepid water inside the natatorium, she felt reinvigorated. So broke her own meet record in the 100-yard butterfly, winning in 54.42. She bettered her mark of 55.05 set last season. So said she was gunning for the record, even though she did not taper for the event.

"It was a really surprising moment when I broke it," said So, who also won the 100 backstroke in 55.95.

The highlight of the boys’ individual competition came courtesy of Pasadena Poly junior Andrew Saeta, who broke the meet record in the 100 backstroke. Saeta finished in 48.94, surpassing the meet record of 49.40 set by Michael Cavic of Tustin in 2000.

After the Hart girls’ team broke the meet record in the 200 medley relay, the Hart boys’ team tied the meet record in the boys’ version of the event, finishing in 1:35.56. That equaled the mark set by La Verne Damien in 2001. Senior K.C. Linn led off for the Indians, followed by junior Chris Weber, senior Brent Stevenson and junior Andrew Skvarna.

La Cañada won the boys’ team title with 236 points, followed by Los Angeles Loyola with 221.

--Dan Arritt