RISING TO THE TOP - Quartz Hill High School's Daniel Colvin, right, won two events (50- and 100-yard freestyle) Thursday at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach at the Southern Section Division IV finals. Colvin won his third title in two seasons. BERNARD KANE/Valley Press

Local swimmers take aim at section finals

By ROBERT S. JOHNSON
Valley Press Sports Editor

Moments after climbing out of the water at the Southern Section Division IV swimming championships Thursday at Belmont Plaza Pool, Colvin looked up at the clock and complained that he could have done better.

Never mind that each time he had just emerged from the pool as the winner of his event. When it comes to swimming, Colvin has times in mind as much as anything else.

So forgive the Quartz Hill High School senior for not being 100% pleased with winning the 50-yard freestyle fairly easily and just hanging on to win the 100 free a little while later.

"I wanted to go faster, but what can you do," Colvin said of the 50 free, which was something of a Valley invitational with Highland's Justin Bishop and Littlerock's Tabrek Seyssel also competing. "That's my best time."

Colvin, who became the first Antelope Valley swimmer since Palmdale's Walter Beddeo in 1980 to win multiple titles, was even more critical of his 47.09-second performance in the 100 free, which he also won in 2007.

"I should have warmed up more," he said in between breaths. "I was just going through the motions."

The motions were plenty good enough, considering that Colvin's 50 time was almost a half-second faster than his nearest competitor, Charter Oak's Jordan Rivas.

Part of Colvin's complaint was that, while he swam his fastest time of the season, he didn't achieve a personal best.

"I know when I've messed up and I'm always too hard on myself when I mess up," he said.

Colvin, who is the first male swimmer from the Valley to achieve All-American status by beating the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association standards in each of his events, did post a personal best in the 50 free, finishing in 21.25 to win by nearly half a second.

"I was feeling real good," he said. "Getting back in the pool and going 21.2 is a good time for me."

He was hoping to break 20 seconds, but was OK with his time because the prep season has been one of disappointment for Colvin because he spent the bulk of it battling a virus that affected his throat and sapped his strength for three months.

"I was healthy enough where I wasn't insanely sick all the time so I stayed in the pool, but in my big meets I swam like crap."

That obviously wasn't the case on Thursday, when beating Highland's Bishop, who finished third in 21.78 also gave Colvin additional bragging rights in their rivalry. Seyssel, a Littlerock senior, placed fifth in 22.16.

"My best friend was in the lane right next to me," said Colvin, who swam out of Lane 4 while Bishop competed in Lane 5. "He got his best time, too."

Bishop flew off the board to begin the 100 butterfly and looked to have the race won through the first 75 yards, but he faded on the last lap and fourth in 53.19.

Palmdale senior Mary Brown trimmed .71 off her best time in the 100 butterfly, but was blown away by Whitney sophomore Kirstie Chen, who set a section division record by winning in 56.16.

Chen had such a big early lead that Brown knew she would have a hard time winning the race.

"You try to catch her, but you try to do the best you can against the clock," Brown said. "I dropped my time. I'm very happy."

Brown, who will compete in the Master's Meet next week and swim in the Junior Olympics over the summer with her club team, Oasis Aquatics, said that knocking off such a big chunk of time from her previous best helps get her closer to her goal of swimming for a college team.

"You always want to do the best you can, so every drop, every hundredth (of a second) matter," she said.

For Quartz Hill junior Brittany Blankenship, the chance to improve on her best time in the season's biggest meet will have to wait another year. Despite entering with the third-best qualifying time in the meet, Blankenship placed fourth in 1:00.43. She also finished fifth in the 500 free in 5:21.88.

Although she didn't post a personal best in either race, Blankenship left the meet feeling satisfied with her performance in the two days that comprised Tuesday's preliminaries and Thursday's finals.

"I'm really happy with the majority of my performance in this meet," she said. "Some days you swim better than others."

The Quartz Hill girls opened the event by finishing tied for third with Beaumont in the 200-yard medley relay in 1:58.2 and closed it with a fourth-place finish in the 400 free relay. The Littlerock boys were eighth in the 200 free relay and freshman Ben Skelding placed eighth in the 100 backstroke.

Rebels juniors Lauren Hughes and Lauryne Newman also raced in the 100 breastroke, with Hughes placing second in 1:10.59 and New placing 14th in 1:14.76. Their efforts helped Quartz Hill finish with 118 points in pursuit of the girls team title, which was tied for fourth with Maranatha behind Mark Keppel, which cruised to the team title with 211 points.

rjohnson@avpress.com