SOUTHERN SECTION 3-A SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS : Brea-Olinda Girls Pushed to Limit Before Winning Again

LONG BEACH —  Sachi White, sophomore swimmer at Brea-Olinda, spoke for her teammates.

“That was nerve-racking,” White said.

Indeed.

Brea breezed to the Southern Section 3-A championship a year ago. With all but one swimmer returning, a repeat was just about a given, right?

Well, the Wildcats found that defending a title can be a lot tougher. They did it Saturday, but not by much.

Brea needed at least a third-place finish in the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, and ended up winning it. The Wildcats finished with 126 points, 10 ahead of second-place Long Beach Wilson, at Belmont Plaza pool.

“We were real confident at the beginning of the year, but we were just hanging tonight,” White said.

The Wildcats came into the meet knowing every race was crucial. They had little margin for error.

They went into the final race 22 points behind Wilson, which didn’t qualify a 400 freestyle relay team.

“I could feel that we were tight,” Coach Phyllis Curry said. “They were constantly asking me how many points we had.”

The relief was evident when the race was over and the Wildcats had won.

They trailed through the first two legs of the race, but Debra Weber pulled them even with Valencia with 100 yards to go.

White then brought it home with a time of 52.47.

“Debra made a great run,” Curry said. “That was her best swim of the night.”

It had been a rough meet for Weber. She was seeded second in the 100 breaststroke, but finished fourth.

But she had a time of 55.26 in her leg of he 400 freestyle relay.

“I guess it just wasn’t my day, until the end,” Weber said.

White was the only individual winner for the Wildcats. She was seeded first in the 100 butterfly and held off Reina Hoffman of Palm Springs to win.

“All I wanted was to make the final,” White said. “I didn’t care what place I got, as long as it was in the top six. Then I qualified first and that really put the pressure on.”

She led from start to finish, but never by much.

“I didn’t know what place I was in,” White said. “Every time I did a flip turn, I splashed water in my eyes, so I couldn’t see if I was ahead. The timers on my lane were all friends of mine. When I finished, I saw them cheering and I knew I had won. That was a big relief.”

The Wildcats depth was apparent in the 100 butterfly.

Besides White, they had Robyn Kracik and Tracy Palmero in the consolation final. Kracik won the race and Palmero was fourth.

“I told the girls that the preliminaries were their meet day,” Curry said. “They had to take care of business then. They did and all they had to do was maintain that advantage.”

They did, but just barely.

Jennifer Antimarino helped Mater Dei to a fifth-place finish. She finished second in the 500 freestyle and third in the 200 freestyle.

In the boys’ competition, Santa Monica won its second consecutive championship with 193 points.

Paul Marceau of Sonora won the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.44. He was second in the 100 free.