It was time for the San Marino girls’ and boys’ swim teams to test the waters of the Rio Hondo League with the Titans’ first dual meet of the league schedule hosting Blair.
The Vikings were no match for the Titans as San Marino used superior numbers and talent to roll over Blair 99-42 on the girls’ side and 113-19 on the boys’ side on March 14.
The Titan girls won nine of the 11 varsity events, with the Vikings not putting a swimmer on the blocks in three of those events.
“This was our third meet and this is by far their best meet,” Titan girls coach Mark Barr said. “I think they did pretty well across the board.”
The Titan boys swept all 11 of the varsity events, with Blair not entering a swimmer in five of those contests. Given the opponent, many of the Titan boys entered events they usually do not to gain experience in a greater variety of swims.
“They swam off events, so something a little bit different,” Titan boys coach Casey Holcomb said. “Today it was kind of a fun meet for them. They got to swim different things and see how they did.”
Titan Maya Borkar won all four of her events. She started leading off the 200-yard individual medley relay in the first varsity event of the meet. Joining Borkar in the race were Kiana Li, Sarah Tang and Leah Dean, who combined to post a winning time of 2 minutes, 8.83 seconds. Borkar also won the 200 freestyle in a time of 2:17.29, winning by almost 30 seconds over her teammate, second-place Dara Wiebe.
Borkar won the 100 butterfly in 1:05.63 with teammate Tang finishing in second almost 15 seconds behind her. Borkar finished her day anchoring the winning team in the 200 freestyle relay, which finished in 1:53.50 with Li, Dean and Olivia Deng swimming before her in that order.
“All of us swam really well and the relays were a lot of fun,” Borkar said. “I swim on club too and I stopped recently, and so just spending time with people you go to school with and having no pressure is a lot of fun.”
Li also won her two individual events to go along with her team relay victories.
The senior, who has committed Pitzer College in Claremont, was the winner of the 200 IM in 2:22.83 with Dean and Tang in second and third in one of the events where the Vikings did not have anyone in the pool. Li also won the 100 breaststroke in 1:11.42, comfortably ahead of second-place Deng.
Deng also got an individual victory in the 500 freestyle in 7:03.47. The Titan girls’ other individual winner was Dean, who won the 100 backstroke in 1:08.15, over 42 seconds faster than the second-place Viking.
Blair swimmer Ella Lesnever prevented the San Marino sweep on the girls’ side with two individual victories. She won the 50 freestyle in 24.53 seconds and the 100 freestyle in 52.72.
The boys’ first event, the 200 medley relay, was won by the quartet of junior Otis Tsai, senior Harrison Summers, senior Daniel Li and freshman Grant O’Mara in a time of 1:50.90, with the Vikings’ entry being disqualified.
Tsai won all four of his events. His two individual wins came in the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.70 seconds, and in the 100 freestyle with a winning mark of 52.72. Tsai was also part of the winning 200 freestyle relay side, along with Summers, Daniel Li and junior Mark O’Mara in 1:34.36.
Mark O’Mara also won all four of his swims. First came the 200 IM in a time of 2:03.33, and his other individual win came in the 100 backstroke in 59.86 seconds. He also was part of the winning side of the 400 freestyle relay.
In addition to the wins in his two relay swims, Daniel Li also posted an individual win. He took the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:51.45.
“Daniel has just gotten better since last season. That is hard to say because he won state in the breaststroke, but he’s just getting better in everything that he swims,” Holcomb said. “He has his sight on getting potentially almost every single school record that we have.”
In addition to two wins as part of relays, Grant O’Mara also won the 500 freestyle in 4:54.04 in one of the events the Vikings did not contest.
“I have a freshman, Grant O’Mara, who swam the 500. That is one of his events,” Holcomb said. “He did OK. He’s faster, but still, 4:54 ended up getting a CIF consideration time.”
The Titan boys’ other individual victories came from Jared Lin in the 100 butterfly, in 1:04.67, and Jiaheng Lyu in the 100 breaststroke, in 1:02.61.
The match ended with the boys’ and girls’ 400 freestyle relay taking place at the same time, as the Vikings did not enter either. The girls’ side of Danica Lee, Katelyn Pletting, Tang and Wiebe finished in 5:11.00. The boys’ side of Mark O’Mara, Leon Markarian, Grant O’Mara and Lyu finished in 3:42.89.
TITANS BOYS SHINE AT MT. SAC WINTERFEST CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Titans boys’ swim team competed in the Mt. SAC Winterfest Championships following their Rio Hondo League meet.
San Marino placed fourth overall in the statewide meet, with individual athletes boasting CIF qualification marks and record-breaking times.
Tsai, Summers, Daniel Li and sophomore Liam Thomas won the 200-yard medley relay in a new meet record 1:33.20.
Li won the 100 breaststroke and the 200 individual medley, setting a record time in both events. The senior finished the 200 IM in 1:48.39 and the 100 breaststroke in 53.45.
Thomas, Tsai and Li teamed up with junior Mark O’Mara for the 400 freestyle relay to finish runner-up in the event in a time of 3:07.10. Tsai also finished the 50 free in fifth in 21.48 and the 100 backstroke in third in 52.35.
Summers claimed fourth in the 100 fly clocking in at 51.27, and Thomas was right behind in the event, finishing fifth in 51.52. Thomas also placed seventh in the 100 free in 47.76.
Titans sophomore Hughes Wang came in 12th in the 100 fly in 53.27, and in the 500 free, Mark O’Mara finished 13th with a time of 4:44.18. The junior also finished 10th in the 200 IM in 1:56.34.
The 200 freestyle relay team of Lyu, Summers, Wang and Mark O’Mara came in 14th at 1:30.42.
— Vincent Nguyen contributed to this report.
First published in the March 21 issue of the San Marino Tribune
