SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Swimming

Water babies: it’s a sibling thing at Sweetwater

By Phillip Brents
Posted April 2, 2004

Swimming can be monotonous at times — too repetitive for even the most diehard competitors. But Sweetwater High senior Irma Acevedo finds something different in the sport that keeps her in the water.

“When I get stressed, I let it go when I’m swimming,” Irma said.

She also has her younger brother David, a sophomore, on deck for support.

The Acevedo siblings are continuing a tradition at the National City school. An older brother, Victor, blazed the trail for the two current siblings by placing second in the 200-yard individual medley at both the 2001 and 2002 Metro Conference championship meets while also engineering top five championship heat finishes in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke events. He is now attending Southwestern College.

Both Irma and David appear to be following in his wake. Last year, David showed flashes of potential by placing fourth in the 500 freestyle; Irma hopes to qualify for this year’s finals in the distance event.

“They’re doing their best. They’re improving. That’s all I care about. They are role models for the team,” SuHi coach Corey Fimpel said.

Fimpel and Ben Luke, both SuHi alumni, are running the team this year. Fimpel was a Metro Conference championship diver during his high school days. Luke was a championship heat finalist in the 2002 Metro 200 freestyle finals.

Fimpel rates both Acevedo siblings among the top swimmers in their events this season.

David was undefeated in the event through the Red Devils’ March 25 meet against Chula Vista, timing 5:54.18 to lap the field. His goal is to trim 20 or more seconds off that time. He turned in a Metro finals mark of 5:52.27 as a freshman.

Irma timed 6:55.07 to win the 500 distance at the same Chula Vista meet. She would like to pare that time down to 6:20 by the conference finals.
All three Acevedo siblings started their swim careers in Mexico before making the jump to high school swimming at Sweetwater. “We started around 4 to 5 years old. Then we found out that Sweetwater had a team, so we joined that,” Irma said.

Irma Acevedo’s strong start to the season also includes a victory in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:55.73 at the March 24 Parkway pool meet.
David was second in the same event to Chula Vista’s Rene Marmolejo (2:26.86), who remained undefeated in the early part of the season with the victory.

Marmolejo also won the 100 breaststroke event (1:12.08) in the meet.

The Acevedo siblings said swimming on the same team is a confidence-builder. Neither are too far apart to flash a supportive smile.
“It’s good. We’ve always been swimming together. It’s nice. It’s a family sport,” Irma Acevedo said.

Swim notepad
Sweetwater’s girls team improved to 2-2 following its 71-60 victory against Chula Vista. The Red Devils won eight events, paced by two individual event victories by Irma Acevedo and Cristina Avendano (100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke). Samantha Stanimirovich also won the 100 freestyle for SuHi, which swept all three relay events. Chula Vista’s Pia Coleman was a double event winner (50 freestyle and 100 backstroke) while Miste Fertig emerged victorious in the 200 freestyle.

The Spartan boys improved to 2-2 with their 82-61 victory against Sweetwater. Event winners for Chula Vista, besides Marmolejo, included Ian Tisdale (diving) and Robert Acuna (100 butterfly). Posting winning times for the Red Devils were Luis Villagomez in both the 200 freestyle (2:33.63) and 100 backstroke (1:31.21), Ernesto Valencia in the 50 freestyle (31.02) and Fernando Gonzalez in the 100 freestyle (1:11.76). Sweetwater also captured the meet-opening 200 medley relay and meet-closing 400 freestyle relay.

Hilltop’s Kovar sets Metro six-dive record

Hilltop High diver Kyle Kovar’s junior season ended, well, with a belly-flop. His senior season could take him to new heights.

The 2003 Metro Conference boys champion in the event, Kovar looked primed to defend his San Diego Section Division II title last season, but a poorly-executed dive left him 13.05 points short of the winning total of 355.60 points turned in by winner Randin Lambrecht of Grossmont.

While Lambrecht scored a career best on his 11-dive card, Kovar had to grimace about the belly-flop at the CIF finals.
He appears to be properly motivated this season.

Kovar set a new school, South Bay League, Metro Conference and Division II record for a six-dive card by scoring 240 points in a March 18 meet against Bonita Vista. The record stood one week before Kovar eclipsed it with a new record total of 248.1 points in a meet at Mar Vista High.

“Kyle has been putting a lot of time and energy into diving this year and is wanting to make his senior year his best and most memorable,” Hilltop coach John Salts said. ”So far, I would say he is on target. He is enjoying diving more this year than any year past that I have seen and it has been noticeable in his performances. He has a newfound joy that shows all over his face in the form of big smiles.”

Another South Bay diver who must be sporting a big smile this season is Chula Vista senior Bryan Flitcraft, who recorded a CIF automatic qualifying mark of 199 points for six dives. Flitcraft has dedicated this season to winning a league diving title.

Making a splash
Otay Ranch High’s fledgling swim team captured its first victory in school history by sweeping Chula Vista in a March 4 meet. The Mustang boys team squeaked out a 65-64 win while the Otay Ranch girls team defeated the Spartans 98-64.
The Mustangs are coached by the brother duo of Ernie and Ricky Medina.