SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Swimming

Eastlake's Clair-Williams leads Metro swim charge with 50 freestyle title

By Phillip Brents
Posted May 28, 2003

In his four years at Eastlake High School, Nik Clair-Williams has built quite a legacy. The Titan senior won his second San Diego Section 50-yard freestyle championship last Saturday at the Mt. Carmel High School pool after finishing his prep career as a four-time Metro Conference champion in the event.

His time of 21.81 topped the Division I field but ranked second on the day to Division II sprint champion Spencer Valentine, a junior at the University of San Diego High School, who clocked an automatic All-American 21.14 in defeating defending division champion Ryan Tucker of Ramona.

At right: Division I CIF 50 freestyle sprint champion Nik Clair-Williams of Eastlake and coach Bryan Monzon.

Clair-Williams had carried the section’s top prelim time of 21.74 into last Saturday’s championship meet.

The All-American consideration standard is 21.74. The automatic All-American standard is 21.31.

Clair-Williams, who captured the Division II title with a time of 21.91 as a sophomore, obviously had set his sights on something higher. His runner-up time in last year’s Division I finals was 21.79.

“I’m happy I won it but the time was bad,” said Clair-Williams, who later went on to place third in the 100-yard backstroke finals. “To go from 21.91 your sophomore year to 21.81 as a senior is not something to be excited about.”

Eastlake coach Bryan Monzon was more generous with praise than his self-critical swimmer. “He matured a lot this year. He had more fun this year than in past years. A lot of people came around and supported him. He did a lot of extra work on his own. I know he’s not satisfied with the time. But in swimming that is the nature of the beast,” Monzon said.

Clair-Williams topped La Costa Canyon freshman Aaron Long (22.33) to win the Division I race. The Titan standout finished with a 55.14 time in the backstroke to better the 55.40 clocking he posted to win the event at the Metro Conference finals the previous week. Top prelim qualifier Spencer Rodman, a sophomore at Carlsbad, won the event in 54.54, followed at the touch pad by Rancho Bernardo junior E-Fann Saung (54.89) in second place.

Clair-Williams was not the only top-ranked South County swimmer to experience disappointment at this year’s CIF finals.

Bonita Vista senior Paul Hernandez entered the meet with top prelims times in both the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke but finished second in both events to Poway freshman sensation Nick Zech.

At left, Bonita Vista's Paul Hernandez competes in the breaststroke leg of the 200 IM.

Hernandez bettered his prelim times in both finals events only to taste defeat. His 1:00.31 time in the breaststroke met the All-American consideration standard; he swam a season best 1:58.41 in the 200 IM.

Zech posted All-American consideration times of 1:56.63 and 59.61 to win both events, shaving more than three seconds off his IM prelim mark and more than two seconds off his breaststroke time.

“It wasn’t really the race I wanted to swim,” said Hernandez, who is bound for UC-Berkeley in the fall.

The pair’s confrontation was part of an on-going battle from club swimming where Zech has dominated in shorter distances and Hernandez held his own in longer distances.

“I’m sure if Paul could swim the breaststroke final again, he’d break double zeroes,” said Baron coach Steve Wiggs.

Finals notepad
Eastlake freshman Dani Kimmel — sans cast on her left forearm — finished second in the girls championship breaststroke final after winning the consolation title in the 50 freestyle. Her times in both events — 25.01 in the 50 freestyle and 1:06.22 in the breaststroke — were season bests. She finished second in the breaststroke finals to Carlsbad senior Kelly Blondin (1:05.91), who met the automatic All-American standard. Kimmel’s time was more than a second under the All-American consideration standard.

Bonita Vista freshman Chris Sanchez was fourth in the backstroke finals (55.87) and sixth in the 200 freestyle finals (1:49.76).

Montgomery freshman Felicia Corona finished fifth in the girls 50 freestyle (25.02) and sixth in the 100 freestyle (54.96) — both season best times.

Bonita Vista’s 200 medley relay of Chris Sanchez, Paul Hernandez, Jonathan Harthorn and Chris Lopez won the consolation title in a season-best 1:46.14. The Barons 400 free unit comprising the same individuals finished sixth in the championship finals.

Swim court
The Bonita Vista girls swim team may not have matched the program’s best-ever finish in postseason competition but the Barons were amply represented in this year’s Division I finals May 24 at Mt. Carmel High School.

Bonita Vista finished ninth in team competition in both the boys and girls competition.
“I’m really excited for the girls team. This is the most we’ve had in the finals since I’ve been coaching here,” said Baron head coach Steve Wiggs, whose involvement stretches back over the past seven years.

Leading the Bonita Vista girls team were seniors Danielle Torre, Marianne Paradowski, Kim Linder and Katie Leahy and sophomore Alvizia Alexander.

Alexander finished 10th in the 100 butterfly (1:02.56). Torre finished 10th in the 100 breaststroke (1:11.34) and 11th in the 200 individual medley (2:20.92). Paradowski finished 11th in the 100 butterfly (1:03.36) while Linder placed 12th in the 500 freestyle (5:35.23) and Leahy finished 12th in the 100 backstroke (1:07.22).

Alexander and Linder both finished as Metro Conference champions this year while repeating as league champions from the previous season.

Bonita Vista also qualified all its three relay teams for this year’s Division I finals, finishing eighth in both the 200 freestyle (1:48.81) and 400 freestyle (3:54.69) and in 10th place in the 200 medley (a season-best 1:59.64 clocking).

The Baron girls weren’t the only ones who enjoyed a spectacular postseason.

Mar Vista’s girls team also had its largest collection of swimmers involved in a finals meet in recent memory. Sophomore Jennifer Parra qualified for two consolation heat events — finishing 10th in the 100 freestyle (58.35) and 12th in the 200 freestyle (2:07.64). The Mariners, who finished 13th in the girls team standings, also qualified its 400 freestyle relay team for the consolation finals (placing 12th in 4:02.57 after setting a school record in the division prelims at 4:00.99).

Moses Meredith became the first freshman to qualify for the CIF prelims in an individual event during the seven-year reign of current Mariners coach Sue Czerwiec after finishing 20th overall in the backstroke (1:09.33). The Mariners also had two relays qualify for the prelims: 200 medley (20th, 2;08.89) and 200 freestyle (16th, 1:53.18).

“In the past, we’ve only brought relays to CIF. Now we’ve added individual qualifiers,” said Czerwiec, whose team placed runner-up to Bonita Vista at the league finals. “We’re losing a lot next year but we’ll be bringing up a number of freshmen with experience from the club team.”

On an individual basis, Sweetwater sophomore Antonio Arroyo won the consolation heat (seventh overall) in the boys 100 freestyle with a season-best 50.26 time in the Division I finals while Marian Catholic senior Roberto Lopez was ninth in the boys 100 butterfly (57.92) in the Division II meet.

Eastlake, which finished 12th in the Division I girls team standings and 13th in the boys team standings, placed 12th in both the girls 200 medley relay (2:07.17) and 200 freestyle (1:53.22) and 12th in the boys 400 freestyle relay (3:46.77).

Diving
Bonita Vista senior Brittney Aland — this year’s Metro Conference girls diving champion — finished 13th in the Division I championship meet May 23 at La Jolla High School while Eastlake freshman Ashley Perez placed 15th in the field of 21 divers. Eastlake junior Samantha Womer finished 19th in the deep field. Perez was third and Womer was fourth at the Metro finals. Chula Vista junior Bryan Flitcraft — second in the league finals — finished 11th in the Division I boys championship meet.