Swimming: Spartans Squads Clinch First in League With Sweep San Marino

This time a week ago, the La Cañada girls swimming team was stunned by South Pasadena and knocked from the ranks of the unbeatens in the Rio Hondo League.

But with a tough matchup against league rival San Marino next on the schedule, the Spartans had no choice but to forget about the disappointing loss and focus on taking out their frustrations on the Titans.

And that’s exactly what they did. Buoyed by their superior depth, the Spartans defeated the Titans 96-74 in Thursday’s dual meet to finish in a three-way tie for first with a league record of 4-1. The Spartans boys team overcame a slipup in the 200-yard freestyle relay to log a 97-73 win over San Marino and clinch another perfect season in league.

“I think losing to South Pas was really hard for us to swallow. So we came in here knowing, ‘OK, we’ve got to win this meet,’ ” Spartans girls coach Tiffany Quash said. “It was like I was looking at a different team. Very, very focused.”

Spartans seniors Katy Campbell and Sarah Olson teamed up to dominate the individual freestyle events.

Campbell took first in 200- and 500-yard frees with times of 1:58.28 and 5:11.65, respectively. Olson swam the 50 free in just 24.83 seconds to place first, and she won the 100 free with a time of 55.86.

Olson and Katy Campbell also teamed up with Samantha Campbell and Kenzie Heaton to win the 4x100 freestyle relay with a time of 3:44.22 seconds. The race was the quartet’s first as a team, and their time was good enough to earn a CIF consideration.

“They looked good,” Quash said. “I have no complaints. I have no complaints at all.” 

The San Marino girls team didn’t go down easily. The Titans had their fair share of first place finishes. Tiffany Warmuth won the 200 individual medley (2:19.10) and the 100 backstroke (1:01.94). Stephanie Samudro took first place in the 100 butterfly (57.56) and 100 breaststroke (1:06.35).

But while the Titans for the most part were able to match the Spartans in race wins, their lack of depth hurt them in the overall points race.

“Our depth versus their depth,” San Marino girls coach Mark Barr said. “The first places, we can pretty much take them on head-to-head. But the girls that get like second, third, fourth and fifth, that’s where we lost the meet.” 

The Spartans boys team quickly took control of the meet in the early races, earning first place finishes in each of the first three events.

Bo Mattix, Brandon Nguyen, Garrett Chin and Matt Myers combined to set the tone, finishing first in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:40.03. Christian Renfro then earned the first of this three wins on the day (two individual and one via a relay) swimming the 200-yard freestyle in 1:42.80. 

Chin followed with a win in the 200 individual medley (1:56.59). He later won the 500 free (4:48.80). 

But San Marino bounced back as Joe Costa took first in the 50 free (22.58) and Stephen To won the 100 butterfly (52.83). Everett Phillips continued to Titans’ run by winning the 100 free with a time of 50.54.

The meet got even tighter after La Cañada’s 200 free relay team got disqualified to hand the event’s first place finish to the Titans — a 12 point swing.

But La Cañada won the final three races of the meet to end the drama.

Renfro won the 100 back (52.47) and Nguyen took first place in the 100 breast (1:00.86). Then Renfro and Nguyen teamed up with Chin and Mattix to win the 400 free relay with a time of 3:16.13 in the final race of the day.

“That put pressure on everybody else in the back half,” Spartans boys coach Art Lopez said of the relay DQ. “The back half did their job. They stepped up. The backstrokers, the breaststrokers and the 4x100 relay.”

The Spartans boys team finished third last weekend in the ultra-competitive Palm Springs Invitational, and Lopez said facing that kind of competition helped his team get ready San Marino.

“Palm Springs helped us because we had Yucaipa, Redlands, Dana Point there,” Lopez said. “So that helped prep for this meet, which will help for Rio Hondo; which will then prep for CIF because now we got the big schools.”

Both San Marino and La Cañada next will compete in the Rio Hondo League Tournament at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center on May 4 and 6 at 3 p.m.