Smith helps break age group mark

Just before he dove into the pool, Matthew Wong said he took a quick breath and then a quick look at the scoreboard at the Cerritos Olympic Swim Center.

He felt confident, he said, but knew what had to be done.

“When I saw the time, I thought we were looking pretty good,” he recalled.

The “we” Wong was referring to is the Irvine Aquazot Swim Club’s boys’ 11/12-year-old 400-medley relay team. The 12-year-old from Irvine swam the freestyle, the final leg of the race that included swims by teammates Thomas Smith (backstroke) of Huntington Beach, Ken Takahashi (breaststroke) of Walnut and Justin Hanson (butterfly) of Newport Beach.

The foursome was after a record — and got it.

Comfortably.

The group set a new National USA Age Group record Dec. 13 at the Winter Age Group Swim Championships by blazing to a time of 3 minutes 53.04 seconds.

They smashed the previous national record of 3:54.91 set in 2002.

The Winter Age Group Swim Championship meet annually brings together swim clubs from all over Southern California for a three-day competition.

Overall, the Irvine Aquazot Swim Club won the meet with a score of 2,467 points.

The 11/12 boys’ medley relay team is coached by Rian Wise.

“It’s a pretty incredible swim,” said Brian Pajer, head coach of the Aquazot Swim Club, who was in Ohio with the club’s National team, when the 11/12 boys set the record. “They are an incredible group of kids who have worked really hard — and it has paid off. I’m very proud of what they accomplished.”

Wong knew that the record was well within reach when he entered the pool for his freestyle swim.

“I thought if I swam a 52 (seconds), we’d get the record,” he said. “I’ve swam that before, so I knew I could do it.

“I knew I had to do my part. Thomas, Ken and Justin are wonderful swimmers and a supportive crew. I wanted to finish the race off with a great swim.”

Wong did just that, his 50.40 time a new personal record.

Smith began the race for the team with the backstroke. He went on to record a personal record time of 58.08 to set the tone for his teammates.

That time shows just how far the 12-year-old has come in so short a period of time.

A seventh-grade student at Sowers Middle School, Smith had undergone testing for lymphoma at the beginning of September after being seen in an emergency room in Huntington Beach. After being evaluated, doctors recommended a surgical biopsy of his neck. Smith was “praying to God about his results,” his father, Brad Smith, said.

Later that same week, he had surgery for removal of lymph nodes in the neck area. Brad Smith said his son, who also is a starter on the Sowers boys’ basketball team and plays on the Beach City Waves club basketball team, was getting e-mails and “letters of prayers,” from the U.S. swimming and basketball world. Nearly a week later, results from his biopsy revealed a benign reactive growth, but no cancer. After his surgical scar was healed, Thomas Smith was back in the water. Despite being a “little sore” from the surgery, he said, he went into workouts with his teammates to try to break the national record.

“Coach Todd (Hickman, Senior 2 coach) was talking to us — he was mentoring us before the race — and he said we had a great opportunity here,” said Thomas Smith, who already held two individual Southern California records (50-backstroke, 100-backstroke). “Coach Todd told us that Michael Phelps hasn’t done this, that Aarron Peirsol was part of a team that had once set (1996) the record. That kind of gave us a boost.

“We were nervous, too, obviously, but we were motivated. We wanted to prove that we were the best, that we could get the relay of the decade. That was my lifetime best, and it’s pretty special for me.”

Takahashi, who swam the next leg turns 13 later this month. The 400 medley relay would be his final chance to break the national record with this group of boys. Smith said that with each backstroke flip turn he did, he would say to himself, “I need to give it all for Ken.”

He did just that.

When Takahashi completed his leg, he had done so in a time of 1:05.97. That set the stage for Hanson, who was eager to give his contribution toward a shot at the record.

Hanson, also 12, said that the four had just missed setting a record in its previous event, the 200 medley relay.

“We were so close to getting a record in our last event, but we knew we had one more chance to set a record,” he said. “I knew I needed to get my best time, and I did.”

Hanson finished the butterfly in 58.59. Just before he touched the wall, that’s when Wong took his breath, then a glance at the scoreboard, and took flight with his teammates into the record book.

BOYS’ SOCCER

Gold Coast Xtreme wins in Anaheim: The U12 boys Huntington Beach Gold Coast Xtreme Black Soccer Club concluded 2009 by winning the Canyon PSA Championship in Anaheim with a convincing 7-1 victory over the Mission Viejo Strikers this past weekend. Most impressively, this comes on the heals of an amazing second-place finish in league play in their debut year at Silver level with only one point denying them first place.

The team was formed and coached by Gabriel Montoya last year under Gold Coast Soccer Club. In the team’s brief history, they managed to sweep the league Bronze division their first year by being undefeated, without a single team being able to score against them the entire season. They have consistently finished in the top three in all the tournaments they participated in ,which included the Nike Harvest Cup in Irvine, San Luis Obispo CAL tourney ,winning the Cypress Cup, Xtreme Cup in HB, and the recent Canyon PSA tourney in Anaheim. All of theses tournaments gave them sufficient preparation playing in the higher competitive silver level during the season, culminating with a successful second place finish.

They made an impressive showing in the open League Cup just narrowly missing quarterfinals by losing to PVSC, who rank in the upper gold level. The upcoming year sees them playing in the Presidents Cup San Diego tournament and an invitation was extended to also take part in the prestigious National Cup which allows them to bypass the State Cup. The team will advance to the Silver Elite division for next year’s league play. The team is made up of the defensive efforts of Jorge Garcia, Adam Hepburn, Christian Keys, Kevin Whalen, Michael Salgado and Alan Montoya in goal. The midfielders are Daniel Banta, Alessandro De La Cruz, Anthony Kiriaki, Kobe Anton and Taigen Hegberg. The offensive side is led by Israel Rios, Andy Duong, Tyler Rule, Matthew Johnston and Garen Balikcioglu. The team manager is Gilda Banta.

— From staff reports