SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Swimming

2005 Metro Conference championships

Eastlake challenges, Barons retain swim title

By Phillip Brents
Posted May 15, 2005

While Eastlake piled up the awards and points at last Saturday’s Mesa League swimming championships at the Loma Verde pool, Bonita Vista held onto something more precious: the league championship trophy.

Team trophies were presented to the top three teams based on the combined boys and girls team scores. Bonita Vista finished first with 1,057 points, followed by Eastlake with 946 points and Montgomery with 419 points.

The Titans came within two disqualified relays of pushing the Barons for the first-place trophy. As a reward, Eastlake’s Bryan Monzon received accolades as the Mesa League boys and girls Coach of the Year while Eastlake’s Juan Ibanez was named the Mesa League boys Swimmer of the Year and Eastlake’s Dani Kimmel shared the Mesa League girls Swimmer of the Year award with Bonita Vista’s Sasha Beltran.

The Barons left the pool deck with championship swims in eight boys finals events and five girls finals events to turn in a standout showing.

Beltran was among four Bonita Vista swimmers who doubled in winning individual events, joining Carlos Escaba, Tony Arroyo and Chris Sanchez.

Beltran captured first-place touches in the girls 200-yard individual medley (2:21.13) and the 100 freestyle (55.38) while Escaba won the boys 200 freestyle (1:51.23) and 100 backstroke (58.63), Arroyo captured the boys 100 butterfly (55.84) and 500 freestyle (4:53.01) and Sanchez claimed emphatic victory in the boys 200 IM (1:57.92) and 100 freestyle (47.70).

Sanchez, a junior, won the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke at last year’s conference championships after making his high school debut by winning the 200 freestyle title as a freshman. He finished third in the 100 backstroke and fourth in the 200 freestyle at last year’s Division I finals and is looking to move up this year in the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke events.

“This year (for the league finals), I wanted to do something different. It’s more difficult doing the IM because it takes more strokes. I’ve swam the 100 and 200 free for so long,” Sanchez said.

For Eastlake, Kimmel won the 50 freestyle (25.33) and 100 breaststroke (1:06.43). She captured both events at last year’s Metro finals and went on to win the Division I breaststroke title in 1:06.21 while placing sixth in the 50 freestyle (25.33), also at the CIF finals.

Ibanez did not win any events at this year’s league finals but just competing was enough to win his award. One of the Titans’ more promising swimmers, he was academically ineligible to end last season. He maintained a 3.2 grade point average this year to help his team reach its potential.