Swimming: La Cañada's Katy Campbell Wins 500 Freestyle At D1 Finals

La Cañada Flintridge and San Marino came into the CIF-Southern Section Division I swimming finals Friday night at Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach with a lot of tough competition. One swimmer out of the two schools had the ride of her life.

Katy Campbell of the Spartans won the 500-yard freestyle final with a time of 4 minutes, 43.04 seconds, edging out the victory by two seconds over University’s Megan Rankin in her Division I debut.

In team competition the La Canada girls squad placed 17^th with 39 points, while the boys squad took an impressive fifth with 128 points. The San Marino girls team finished 25^th, while the Titan boys placed 16^th.

“I could not be any more proud of what Campbell showed today,” Spartans girls coach Tiffany Quash said. “I was hoping that she wouldn’t give out near the end when she hit the last 75 meters. But when she made that third to last turn, she was going for it all.”

Campbell, a junior, had a very steady pace throughout the race. She averaged 28 seconds each time across, and fatigue never played a factor. She was at one point standing in fifth place early in her race, but she maintained to hold onto the same speed and eventually pulled through in the final two laps.

“All I had to do was keep my pace going,” Campbell said. “I really have no thought when I go into a race except thinking how much this hurts. I just had to keep pressing and put myself into rhythm, and working with my coach to get myself better got me ready for this.”

Campbell also finished third in the 200 freestyle final (1:48.07).

Besides the success of Campbell, the Spartans had other memorable finishes. The Spartans earned top honors in the boys 200-yard medley relay consolation with a time of 1:37.80, and Brandon Nguyen also earned first in the consolation 100-yard breaststroke (1:58.73). Christian Renfro also earned second place in the consolation 100-yard freestyle (46:00).

The Spartans entered the meet having qualified in 13 different events (seven final, six consolation).

“I think we did a phenomenal job,” Spartans boys coach Art Lopez said. “This is true especially in our first year in Division I. The only letdown came from the 200 medley relays, but we came back strong in all the other events. Honestly, you just can’t ask for anything more than that with such a small school competing with others that have been in this level for years.”

San Marino had a number of racers competing as well. Qualifying in seven different events (four final, three consolation), most of their success came from their experienced swimmers. Zachary Young finished second in the consolation 200-yard freestyle (1:42.60), and Nathan Tsai placed third in the 200 individual medley consolation (1:56.06). As a team, they placed second in the boys 400 freestyle relay consolation (3:12.17).

San Marino freshman Stephanie Samuro was the only female that competed in any finals event, and did fairly well. Although she placed eighth in the 100-yard butterfly (57:48), she came out stronger in her 100-yard breaststroke (1:04.41). The future for her proves to be very bright, entering the events as the lone freshman on the team.

“It feels great to be one of the best out of San Marino,” Samuro said. “I love swimming and competing with people older than me. That’s the only way I can get better and pump myself up in each event.”

South Pasadena and Monrovia also competed in the preliminaries on Wednesday. Ruben Carillo was the only one represented by the Wildcats, competing in both the 200 individual medley (2:00.32) and 100-yard butterfly (53:98). South Pasadena had five swimmers competing in eight events. Samantha Zavala was a few spots from qualifying in the 500 freestyle (5:10.61), and Liza Echeverria fared the same in the 200 individual medley (2:14.42).