SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Swimming

Eastlake's Kimmel swims to CIF championship

By Phillip Brents
Posted May 24, 2004

Last year, Eastlake High’s Dani Kimmel entered the postseason wearing a cast on her forearm. No problem. She promptly won the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke events at the Metro Conference championship meet.

A week later, she swam both events in the San Diego Section Division I championship meet, winning the consolation title in the 50 free and placing second in the breaststroke. All in all, not too shabby for a debut freshman season.

Destiny promptly threw Kimmel the proverbial curve ball midway through her sophomore season. She broke two fingers.

Back in a cast she went.

But talent can only be held down so long.

Kimmel returned to the water for the Metro Conference finals May 15 at the Loma Verde pool. She shattered her entry time of 1:20.37 in the breaststroke with a winning time of 1:08.67. She timed 25.66 to capture the 50 free title.

At last Saturday’s Division I championship meet at Rancho Bernardo High School, Kimmel shaved her time in the breaststroke to 1:06.21 to enter her name as a CIF champion. She placed sixth in the 50 free (25.33) for good measure.

Kimmel (1:08.44) entered the breaststroke finals seeded second to Rancho Bernardo’s Jenna Wesley (1:07.15). Wesley (1:06.31) placed second at the CIF finals.

What could be next? At this point, Kimmel would likely prefer not to hear the good luck phrase “break a leg.”

Kimmel’s time in the Metro breaststroke finals was nearly six seconds faster than that posted by teammate Andrea Williamson (1:14.60), who placed second in the event. A third Titan swimmer, Robin Sese, placed fourth in the event with a time of 1:19.21.

Kimmel’s entry time in the 50 free was 1.6 seconds faster than that of second-seeded Brittany Estrada of Bonita Vista (the meet’s 500 free champion). The Eastlake swimmer touched 0.39 seconds ahead of Baron freshman Sasha Beltran (26.05), with Bonita Vista’s Jeanette Islas placing third in 26.50 and Estrada fourth in 27.18.

On the boys side, Eastlake freshman sensation Marc Uy placed third in the 100 breaststroke and eighth in the 200 individual medley at the Division I finals. Uy timed 1:01.96 in the breaststroke — well off the winning time of 58.91 posted by Poway sophomore Nick Zech — but nearly a second faster than his winning time of 1:02.84 at the Metro finals. Second place went to Carlsbad junior Michael Mulvey (1:00.64).

Uy timed 2:05.45 in the 200 IM — an event he also won at the conference championships — to place second in the consolation heat finals to Fallbrook’s Brett Parkola (2:05.15). Zech won the championship heat in 1:57.43.

At the Metro finals, Uy captured the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke while sophomore teammate Tom Dziadkowiec produced one of the upsets of the meet by winning the 100 butterfly event to help guide the Titans to a meteoric second-place team finish.

Uy entered the championship meet as the top-seeded swimmer in both events he won. He trimmed more than seven seconds off his time in the 200 IM (2:14.72 to 2:07.31) and clocked 0.32 seconds faster in the 100 breaststroke. He scored a come-from-behind win against Mar Vista’s Don Sales in the individual medley event, winning by almost nine seconds with a strong second-half effort. Uy captured the breaststroke title by nearly six seconds over Montgomery’s Pablo Carrillo.

Metro champion Bonita Vista placed eighth in the boys Division I team standings to highlight a strong postseason showing. Sophomore Chris Sanchez showed why he may be destined for future greatest by placing third in the 100 backstroke (55.29) and fourth in the 200 freestyle (1:48.97). First place in the backstroke went to Mt. Carmel senior Eddie Erazo (50.78); second place went to Carlsbad junior Spencer Rodman (53.78).

Like Uy, it appears that time could be on Sanchez’ side. The three swimmers who finished ahead of him in the 200 free included two seniors and one junior.

Sanchez won both the 200 free and 100 backstroke at the conference finals, timing 1:49.98 and 55.75, respectively. He entered the CIF finals with a 1:47.31 seed time in the freestyle event. In the backstroke, he trimmed more than a half second off his entry time of 55.90.

Metro Conference boys Swimmer of the Year Chris Lopez of Bonita Vista placed eighth in both the 50 free (22.75) and 100 free (50.46).

The Bonita Vista 200 freestyle relay unit of Sasha Beltran, Berenice Jimenez, Brittany Estrada and Jeanette Islas lowered its school record time to 1:45.29 with a sixth-place finish in the championship heat.

San Diego Section Swimming Championships
Division I Finals
Boys 200 medley relay: 1. Carlsbad 1:39.23; 6. Eastlake (Jeff Demoss, Marc Uy, Tom Dziadkowiec, Sam Gottlieb) 1:48.10.
Boys 200 freestyle: 1. Spencer Rodman (Mt. Carmel) 1:43.34; 4. Chris Sanchez (Bonita Vista) 1:48.97.
Boys 200 IM: 1. Nick Zech (Poway), 1:57.43; 8. Marc Uy (Eastlake) 2:05.45.
50 freestyle: 1. Aaron Long (La Costa Canyon) 21.74; 8. Chris Lopez (Bonita Vista) 22.75.
100 freestyle: 1. Nate Riccitelli (La Costa Canyon) 48.13; 8. Chris Lopez (Bonita Vista) 50.46.
200 freestyle relay: 1. La Costa Canyon, 1:29.07; 6. Bonita Vista (Chris Lopez, N/A, Dennis Schulz, Marc Lewis) 1:36.78; 10. Eastlake (Jeff Demoss, N/A, Tom Dziadkowiec, Sam Gottlieb) 1:38.07.
100 backstroke: 1. Eddie Erazo (Mt. Carmel) 50.78; 3. Chris Sanchez (Bonita Vista) 55.29; 10. Carlos Escaba (Bonita Vista) 59.89.
100 breaststroke: 1. Nick Zech (Poway) 58.91; 3. Marc Uy (Eastlake) 1:01.96; 11. Pablo Carrillo (Montgomery) 1:09.67.
400 freestyle relay: 1. La Costa Canyon, 3:14.31; 5. Bonita Vista (Chris Sanchez, Chris Lopez, Carlos Escaba, Marc Lewis) 3:24.67.

Girls 200 medley relay: 1. Mt. Carmel, 1:48.35 (section record); 11. Bonita Vista (Katie Leahy, Sara Glick, Alvizia Alexander, Berenice Jimenez) 2:03.84; 12. Eastlake (Andrea Williamson, Dani Kimmel, Julie Williamson, Taylor Erickson) 2:04.96.
200 IM: 1. Hannah McClurg (Rancho Bernardo) 24.05; 6. Dani Kimmel (Eastlake) 25.33.
100 freestyle: 1. Tiffany Brown (Rancho Bernardo) 51.80; 12. Jeanette Islas (Bonita Vista) 57.82.
200 freestyle relay: 1. Rancho Bernardo, 1:40.35; 6. Bonita Vista (Sasha Beltran, Berenice Jimenez, Brittany Estrada, Jeanette Islas) 1:45.29 (school record).
100 backstroke: 1. Tiffany Brown (Rancho Bernardo) 59.26; 11. Katie Leahy (Bonita Vista) 1:06.72.
100 breaststroke: 1. Dani Kimmel (Eastlake) 1:06.21.
400 freestyle relay: 1. Mt. Carmel, 3:33.02; 5. Bonita Vista (Sasha Beltran, Brittany Estrada, Katie Leahy, Jeanette Islas) 3:50.92.

San Diego Section Swimming Championships
Division II Finals
Boys 100 butterfly: 11. Don Sales (Mar Vista) 58.72.

Girls 50 freestyle: 11. Jennifer Parra (Mar Vista) 26.40.

Girls 100 freestyle: 10. Jennifer Parra (Mar Vista) 57.13.