SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Swimming

Mustangs show well at first-ever finals

By Phillip Brents
Updated May 18, 2004

Blood may indeed be thicker than water, especially where the Otay Ranch High School swim team is concerned.
On March 24, head coach Ernie Medina underwent kidney transplant surgery. The donor? His brother— and Mustang co-coach — Ricky Medina.

The Medina brothers were back on the pool deck for Otay Ranch’s first trip to the Metro Conference finals May 15 at the Loma Verde pool. The results only bode well for the future of both the team’s coaching staff and swimmers.
The fledgling Mustangs placed sixth out of 11 teams at this year’s conference finals. Ernie Medina was named the Metro Girls Coach of the Year.

“We did well,” said Medina, who is still recovering from the after-effects of surgery, particularly in building up his immune system. “We were in the middle of the pack. In our division (South Bay League), we were behind Hilltop and Mar Vista. We like to think of ourselves as ‘the best of the rest.’ We’ll give it two years before we can compete with the other teams at that level. We can’t wait until the water polo season in the fall.”

Medina, who was active in running and triathlon events prior to his surgery, is planning on competing in this year’s Transplant Games in Minneapolis, Minn., starting the last week in July. The Mustang coach is eyeing competing in three swimming events and one running event. He and his brother also have plans to participate in an upcoming 5K run and a team triathlon.
“I’m in training now. It’s going slow,” Ernie Medina said.

While the Mustangs got off to a slow start, they appear to have finished with the proverbial bang.

Otay Ranch swept Montgomery in dual competition May 7 to close out the regular season. The Mustangs prevailed 66-39 in the girls meet to finish 6-4 overall, 3-2 in league; Otay Ranch’s boys team edged the Aztecs by a 44-42 score to finish 5-5 overall, 2-3 in league.

At this year’s championship meet, the Mustangs qualified swimmers for eight top 8 championship heat events, including three girls and three boys relays.

Eylse Dayrit, who became the first CIF qualifier in school history with a 27.45 time in the 50-yard freestyle during regular season competition, earned honors as the first Otay Ranch swimmer to place in two individual championship finals heats. She placed fifth in the girls 500-yard freestyle (6:16.77) and seventh in the girls 200-yard freestyle (2:17.38). She finished first among South Bay League swimmers in the 500 free and was second in league in the 200 free (in which she shaved off almost eight seconds from her seed time of 2:21.25).

The boys 200 freestyle relay unit earned the highest placing of the Mustangs’ six relay teams with its fourth-place showing of 1:55.47 (nearly three seconds faster than its seed time).

The girls 200 freestyle relay team also acquited itself well with its fifth-place time of 2:05.56. The girls 200 medley relay team placed sixth with a time of 2:23.66 while the girls 400 freestyle team placed sixth with a time of 5:04.77 — dropping more than three seconds from the seed time in both events.

Otay Ranch placed seventh in both the boys 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay events, dropping nearly three seconds in the former event (2:10.84) and knocking off nearly two minutes in the latter event (4:45.25).

In consolation finals events (places ninth through 16th), Christina Allison was third in the girls 100 freestyle, Bert Leon-Guerrero placed fourth in the boys 200 individual medley and fifth in the boys 100 butterfly, Rachel Medina (Ernie Medina’s daughter) placed fourth in the 100 breaststroke and seventh in the girls 200 individual medley, Kevin Cerwin finished fifth in the boys 100 backstroke, Robert Baquero was sixth in the boys 500 free, Bryan Kelly was seventh in both the boys 50 free and 100 free, Claudette Dagadoy placed seventh in the girls 100 backstroke, Alexis Garcia finished eighth in the girls 200 free and Paulette Murillo was eighth in the girls 100 backstroke.

Among South Bay League swimmers, Allison was second in the girls 100 freestyle, Leon-Guerrero placed second in the boys 200 individual medley and third in the boys 100 butterfly, Rachel Medina (Ernie Medina’s daughter) placed fourth in the 100 breaststroke and fifth in the girls 200 individual medley, Kevin Cerwin finished fourth in the boys 100 backstroke, Robert Baquero was sixth in the boys 500 free, Bryan Kelly was fifth in the boys 100 free and seventh in boys 50 free, Claudette Dagadoy placed fifth in the girls 100 backstroke, Alexis Garcia finished seventh in the girls 200 free and Paulette Murillo was sixth in the girls 100 backstroke.

The challenge for the Mustangs’ coaching staff that also includes Armando Ramos and Chris Moselle has been to whip the team of freshmen and sophomores into a competitive unit.

“For the first three weeks, we gave swimming lessons,” Ernie Medina said. “We have 33 swimmers and 30 are freshmen. We are the youngest swim team in the county – and one with a winning record.”

Notepad
Mar Vista’s Don Sales (first in both the 200 IM and 100 butterfly league finals) was named South Bay League Boys Swimmer of the Year while Mar Vista’s Meredith Moses (first in both the 200 IM and 100 backstroke) was named South Bay League Girls Swimmer of the Year.