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Szabo: CdM’s Popp, Merrell not going to state swim meet

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The first CIF State Swimming & Diving Championships are taking place May 22-23 at Clovis West High, but you can count out some of the top swimmers in Newport-Mesa.

Corona del Mar High senior Meagan Popp and freshman Eva Merrell said Friday that they aren’t planning to attend the CIF State meet should they qualify. Instead, Popp and Merrell plan to swim in the Grand Challenge club meet at Irvine’s Woollett Aquatics Center.

The Grand Challenge meet is hosted by Novaquatics, which is the club team of the Harvard-bound Popp.

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“It’s a long-course meet, and I think it’s a good opportunity for me to actually start training long-course again and try to get some more Olympic Trials cuts, especially since Olympic Trials is next year,” Popp said. “Even though I’d love to go to the high school state meet, I just think it would be more productive that I go to the Grand Challenge.”

Merrell, who swims club for AquaZot, agreed.

“I was talking with my coach about it,” she said. “I’m going for two more [Olympic] Trials cuts, so just to have the whole summer to try to progress and get it would be fun.”

CdM girls’ Coach Doug Volding said he is supportive of the girls’ decision. Popp and Merrell, who each won their two individual events at Friday’s Pacific Coast League finals and were co-girls’ Swimmers of the Meet along with Daniela Georges of Woodbridge, would have been very good bets to make the CIF State meet. The top five CIF Southern Section finishers in each event qualify for the CIF State meet, and there are also at-large standards that can be met at next week’s CIF Southern Section finals.

Instead, Popp and Merrell have an eye toward Olympic Trials. Popp already has her Olympic Trials cut in the 200-meter breast, and Merrell has cuts in the 50 free, 100 fly and 100 back.

“They have pro swimmers that come [to Grand Challenge],” Popp said. “It’s a really cool experience for us to swim against the pros, because we don’t usually get to do that very often. It’s just structured around wanting people to get their times for Olympic Trials and nationals.”

That means that Popp and Merrell will end their high school seasons at the CIF Southern Section Division 1 meet, which has preliminaries on Thursday and finals Saturday at Riverside City College. Popp is seeded fourth in the 200 individual medley and third in the 100 breaststroke. Merrell is seeded first in both the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke.

The only CdM swimmer at the CIF State meet might end up being on the boys’ side. Princeton-bound senior Tyler Lin said he plans to compete if he qualifies. Lin also has a very good shot, as he is the defending CIF Southern Section Division 1 champion in the breaststroke.

“If I win that, then it’s like you get a state record, because it’s the first year [of the meet],” Lin said. “If you win, you automatically set the record, and it’s pretty cool to say that you’re the state record holder ... I’m more of a short-course swimmer, so I don’t really mind missing [the] long-course [Grand Challenge]. It’s fine. And there’s still other meets I can go to. It’s not like I’m losing out on my long-course season.”

Lin said that his CdM boys’ swimming teammates Justin and Tim Hanson, who like Lin also swim club for AquaZot, don’t plan to go to the CIF State meet if they qualify.

•Sage Hill School was the lone Newport-Mesa league champion in boys’ or girls’ swimming. The Lightning boys captured the Academy League title Thursday at Kennedy High in La Palma.

Sage Hill finished with 151 points to top Whitney, which was the dual-meet champion. Whitney had 113 points at league finals.

Sage Hill’s boys captured their first league crown since 2010, and did it with big performances. Sophomore Taras Polakoff set the league meet record in the 100 backstroke at preliminaries with a 55.82, and won the event at finals with a 56.14. Polakoff said junior teammate Harry Miller set the school record in the 50 free (23.30) at preliminaries as well.

Polakoff said he was confident that the Lightning, coached by Tom Norton, could win the league after the strong preliminaries showing.

“I went home after prelims and I went on SwimPhone and calculated all the different points,” Polakoff said. “We were predicted to win league by 20 points. I knew coming into finals that we were looking good.”

A key event in finals was the 200 medley relay, which Sage Hill freshman Ethan Vovan, Miller, Polakoff and senior Michael Phan won in 1:45.30. Whitney was seeded first in the event coming into league finals.

Sage Hill’s girls finished sixth in league, but Polakoff said they also set two school records. Sophomore Paige Solaas swam a 26.72 in the 50 free, and junior Carly Lubowe swam a 1:02.96 in the 100 fly.

Polakoff, who swims club for AquaZot, is the only Sage Hill swimmer to advance to next week’s CIF Southern Section Division 2 preliminaries. He’ll compete in the 100 back.

•The CIF Southern Section will release boys’ tennis team playoff brackets Monday at 11 a.m., and three Newport-Mesa teams have earned automatic berths.

Newport Harbor, the second-place team out of the Sunset League, will return to the Division 1 playoffs. Sage Hill, which shared the Academy League title with Crean Lutheran but earned the league’s top seeding for playoffs, is in the Division 2 mix. Estancia, which finished second in the Orange Coast League, has qualified in Division 4.

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