Kim Dominates 100 Breaststroke

When Irvine’s Daniel Kim got up on the block for the 100-yard breaststroke Saturday, the last thing on his mind was swimming the county’s fastest time.

So when Kim’s coach, Ken Dory, ran up to him after the event to show him his winning time, all Kim could do was laugh in disbelief.

“The only thing I felt during that race was tired,” said Kim, whose 56.13 mark was almost three seconds faster than the previous county best. “I could see the guy next to me was keeping up with me, so I thought I must be going pretty slow. I had no idea I was going that fast.”

Indeed, Kim’s winning time at Southern Section Division I finals last year was 57.01.

Kim also won the 100 butterfly in a county-best 52.55 in the nonleague tri-meet with Laguna Hills and Los Angeles Loyola. The Irvine boys won every event except one, the 400 freestyle relay, which Loyola won in 3:22.65 at the Heritage Aquatic Complex in Irvine.

Irvine won with 117 points, Loyola was second (52) and Laguna Hills third (37).

Despite the 174-112 loss to the Irvine girls’ team, Laguna Hills Coach Susan Lord was happy with her team’s performance.

“They have so much depth,” Lord said. “And there was no way we could beat them, so we were coming into this wanting to see if we could do better than everybody else.”

The Hawks came the closest to the Vaqueros in team points this season.

Except for Amanda Beard, who was in Colorado Springs, Colo., at the Olympic training center, Irvine was at full strength.

Erin Zehntner and Stephanie Hsiao were double winners for Irvine. Zehntner won the 200 (1:54.06), which was .27 better than her previous county best, and the 500 (5:05.07) freestyle. Hsiao, who already owns the top time in the county, was first in the 50 (24.80) and 100 (53.83) freestyle.

Shauna Barnard was Laguna Hills’ top performer as the sophomore won the 200 individual medley in 2:05.51, which eclipsed El Toro’s Kaitlin Sandeno’s top time by almost a second, and the 100 backstroke (58.34), which was also a county best. Lindsey Buck was the only other winner from Laguna Hills with a county-best 58.19 in the 100 butterfly.

Barnard also swam the anchor on the 400 freestyle relay. In that race, Barnard was able to capitalize on her turn to overtake Hsiao on the 75-yard leg and touch her out in an All-American time standard of 3:36.70. Barnard’s split for the 100 was 51.7.

In Olympic League baseball:

No. 6 Calvary Chapel 11, Cerritos Valley Christian 6--Brett Young relieved Pastor Perez in the second and struck out 14 and homered for Calvary Chapel. Matt Mossberg and Jon Smith each doubled and homered, and Perez also hit a home run for the sixth-ranked Eagles (15-1, 5-0).

In the Sunset league:

Fountain Valley 7, Huntington Beach 2--Seb Gonzales went four for four with two runs scored and winning pitcher Justin Azze struck out nine and walked one for the visiting Barons (13-4, 4-3). Brett Cayton hit a home run for Fountain Valley.

In the Downey Warren Tournament:

Canyon 9, Downey Warren 0--David Nelson had two hits and three RBIs and four Canyon pitchers combined on a four-hitter for Canyon (13-4), which advanced to next Saturday’s final at Downey.

At the Tustin Relays track and field invitational:

Santa Margarita, Claremont win--Although Santa Margarita didn’t win an event, it edged Tustin, 48-47, to win the boys’ title behind its strong showing in the field events. Tustin sophomore Alonzo Smith ran a 2:01 in the 800 and 4:27 in the 1,600.

Mission Viejo was third at 40.

Claremont won its second consecutive girls’ title with 81 points. Palos Verdes Peninsula was second with 44 and Santa Ana Valley third with 40.