Sailors outlast Sea Kings in Back Bay meet

Tony Altobelli

NEWPORT BEACH - The Newport Harbor High boys swim team brought

nearly the entire arsenal against rival Corona del Mar and pulled out a

93-79 nonleague win.

The Sailors, who dropped their first meet of the season to Los

Alamitos with all of their seniors and club swimmers not in attendance,

were one swimmer shy of a full deck on Monday.

“This is our fourth year in a row we’ve prevailed over CdM and we’re

pretty proud of that,” Newport Coach Brian Kreutzkamp said. “Obviously,

we were very happy to have our seniors back in our lineup.”

Ryan Lean was Newport’s lone double winner. The senior standout won

the 200-yard freestyle with a 1:48.52, as well as the 500 free with a

4:54.43.

Lean outdueled CdM’s Sherwin Kim (1:56.45) in the 200 and blew away

the rest of the pool in the 500. CdM’s Jim Strack placed second, but was

over 28 seconds behind Lean with a 5:23.25.

“The key to our win today was in the freestyle races,” Kreutzkamp

said. “Newport and CdM had an abundance of water polo players and in

order to be victorious, you have to be strong in the freestyle races.”

Newport (1-1) won all freestyle races, including a 1-2-3 sweep in the

50 free, led by Joey Snelgrove (22.92), Peter Belden (23.22) and Steven

Jendrusina (23.84).

“Joey’s time was strong,” Kreutzkamp said. “He’s only a little bit off

his CIF Division I time of 22.1 last year. That 1-2-3 finish put our team

total over the top.”

Newport’s Andrew Cole again pulled out an impressive time in the 100

back with a 54.9, one of the top times in Orange County this year,

according to Kreutzkamp said.

“Of course, Aaron (Peirsol) hasn’t run the event yet, but that still

is a phenomenal time,” Kreutzkamp said of Cole. “He’s going to be some

kind of swimmer for us, that’s for sure.”

Cole teamed up with Lean, Belden and Snelgrove to win the 200 medley

relay with a solid time of 1:45.40.

The closest race of the day came in the 100 free, where Newport’s

Peter Belden (51.79) hung on to edge CdM’s Garrett Bowlus (51.86). Chris

Street was close behind with a 52.32 for the Sea Kings.

Belden joined Jendrusina, Snelgrove and Ryan Cook in Newport’s

victorious 200 free relay team (1:34.60).

“We still have a lot of room to improve, but overall, I was pleased

with our times today,” CdM Coach Tim Chaix said. “Everything went pretty

much as I expected today. There weren’t too many surprises out there.”

The Sea Kings were led with wins by Robert Fries. He posted the meet’s

only sub-minute time in the 100 butterfly (59.64) and won the 100

breaststroke (1:08.91) by nearly four seconds.

Sherwin Kim won the 200 individual medley with a 2:03.93, edging

Newport’s Robert Cole (2:04.83). Kim also placed second in the 200 free

(1:56.45).

“Chris (Street), Sherwin (Kim) and Robert (Fries) put up some quality

times,” Chaix said. “I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do as

the season progresses.”

The Sea Kings ended the meet with a strong showing in the 400 free

relay. The quartet of Strack, Michael March, Matt Meyer and John Money

won with a time of 3:29.64.

Corona del Mar will host El Toro Wednesday at 3 p.m., while Newport

swims against powerhouse Irvine on March 21, also at 3 p.m.

The Sailors and Vaqueros will be short some club swimmers as the U.S.

Senior Nationals approach, but the losses should be more of a factor to

Irvine, according to Kreutzkamp.

“They lose a few top swimmers and they have the depth to keep on

rolling,” Kreutzkamp said. “We lose three or four good swimmers and we’re

devastated. We’ll just have to see how it goes.”