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The Register’s All-County girls swimming and diving team for 2022.

GIRLS SWIMMER OF THE YEAR

Teagan O’Dell, Santa Margarita, Fr.

Santa Margarita freshman swimmer Teagan O’Dell had already impressed with her versatility before arriving at the CIF State championships in mid-May.

A week earlier, she claimed CIF-SS Division 1 titles in the 200-yard individual medley and 100 backstroke in the second-fastest times in Orange County history, and set the Division 1 record in the IM.

But in Fresno at the state meet, she unleashed her startling freestyle speed in the 400 free relay, adding yet another dimension to her growing profile.

For her combination of versatility and speed, O’Dell is The Register’s female swimmer of the year.

“She had an amazing season,” Santa Margarita co-coach Rich Blanc said. “She loves to compete and really gets up for big meets.”

The CIF State finals again proved that. In the prelims, O’Dell split her third leg of the 400 freestyle relay in 47.98 seconds, then likely the fastest 100 split ever clocked an Orange County girl.

O’Dell’s time was more than half-a-second faster than Ayla Spitz’s county record in the 100 free (flat start) of 48.63 for Newport Harbor in 2019. Relay starts are faster than flat starts because the swimmers anticipate the exchange but O’Dell’s half-a-second clearance of the county record suggests she could break the O.C. standard.

“She really threw down the hammer,” Santa Margarita co-coach Ron Blanc said of the prelim split. “She was pulling so much water (with her stroke).”

In the finals the following day, the Irvine Novaquatics standout was even faster. She split a 47.75 on her third leg to team with Macky Hodges, Teia Salvino and Justina Kozan for a national high school record time of 3:14.80.

For perspective, at the NCAA women’s championships this year, the third leg of Virginia’s winning and meet-record 400 free relay split a 47.79.

“Just shows her versatility,” Novaquatics coach Ken LaMont said of O’Dell, recently named to the U.S. team for the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in August in Hawaii.

“One of our goals is to make her freestyle competitive enough to earn her a spot on the national team relays.”

The 200 IM was arguably O’Dell’s best individual event. She won the state title in a lifetime-best 1:55.15, the fastest high school time in the nation this year, according to swimcloud.com. She set the CIF-SS Division 1 record in the event with a 1:55.46.

O’Dell also swept the 100 backstroke at the section and state finals. She touched in a meet-record and lifetime-best 52.27 in Fresno to set the stage for the record-setting 400 free relay.

“She’s incredible,” Rich Blanc added. “But just a great kid. She’s a great student. She’s humble. … and her best is still way in front of her.”

COACH OF THE YEAR

Alex Nieto, Northwood

Northwood swimming coach Alex Nieto saw his girls team ascending in the spring of 2019 and predicted a breakthrough on the horizon.

Then came the pandemic.

But after two shortened seasons due to the virus, the Timberwolves fulfilled that promise this season under Nieto.

They used their depth to out-duel Woodbridge and Portola to capture the challenging Pacific Coast League title for the first time. The team also set school records in the 200-yard medley and 200 freestyle relays.

For his efforts, Nieto is The Register’s girls coach of the year for the first time.

Northwood swimming coach Alex Nieto, pictured fourth from the left, is The Register’s girls coach of the year for 2022. He is pictured with swimmers, from left, Yufei Chen, Tanya Ahmed, Taylor Inouye, Gabrielle Lan and Lauren Kim. (Photo courtesy of Alexei Tolkachev).

“This season was amazing for the girls,” he said. “That (title) was building up.”

Northwood featured five seniors whom Nieto noticed in 2019 as building blocks for the future. They were: Carolyn Nguyen, Corina Lee, Lauren Kim, Tanya Ahmed and Avery Liu.

Nieto blended the group with strong juniors Acile Jammoul, Taylor Inouye, Kim Huynh and Addison Cadena, freshman Gabrielle Lan and sophomores Katerina Tolkachev and Genevieve Chomin.

ALL-COUNTY TEAM

(All distances in yards.)

200 medley relay: Santa Margarita (Macky Hodges, Jr., Teagan O’Dell, Fr., Justina Kozan, Sr., Lindsay Ervin, Sr.) 1:39.04-ca rec, oc.; Woodbridge (Julia Cho, Sr., Phoebe Yeh, Sr., Zara Masud, So., Rin Hoshina, Jr.) 1:45.24

200 freestyle: Justina Kozan (Santa Margarita, Sr.) 1:44.63-ca rec; Maggie Schalow (Corona del Mar, Jr.) 1:47.38

200 individual medley: Teagan O’Dell (Santa Margarita, Fr.) 1:55.15-ca; Katie Crom (Tesoro, Sr.) 2:00.60

50 freestyle: Teia Salvino (Santa Margarita, So.) 22.58-ca; Macky Hodges (Santa Margarita, Jr.) 22.84, Lindsay Ervin (Santa Margarita, Sr.) 22.89

100 butterfly: Justina Kozan (Santa Margarita, Sr.) 52.65; Maggie Schalow (Corona del Mar, Jr.) 52.90

100 freestyle: Macky Hodges (Santa Margarita, Jr.) 49.04r, ca prelims; Katie Crom (Tesoro, Sr.) 49.14

500 freestyle: Abby O’Sullivan (Santa Margarita, Jr.) 4:48.67; Sydney Willson (JSerra, Fr.) 4:51.06

200 freestyle relay: Santa Margarita (Gracyn Aquino, Fr., Teia Salvino, So., Lindsay Ervin, Sr., Macky Hodges, Jr.) 1:32.12-TL; Woodbridge (Phoebe Yeh, Sr., Zara Masud, So., Julia Cho, Sr., Rin Hoshina, Jr.) 1:35.93-ca

100 backstroke: Teagan O’Dell (Santa Margarita, Fr.) 52.27 ca rec; Macky Hodges (Santa Margarita, Jr.) 53.50 ca

100 breaststroke: Morganne Malloy (Capistrano Valley, Sr.) 1:02.74-SVL; Henley Kerr (El Toro, Jr.) 1:02.92

400 freestyle relay: Santa Margarita (Macky Hodges, Jr., Teia Salvino, So., Teagan O’Dell, Fr., Justina Kozan, Sr.) 3:14.80-US, ca rec, oc; Tesoro (Sophia Ribeiro Sr., Alexis Bright, Fr., Samantha Delgado, So., Katie Crom, Sr.) 3:27.50

Diving: Taylor Fox (San Juan Hills, So.) 559.10; Avery Giese (San Juan Hills, So.) 497.00

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ALL-COUNTY LEGEND: US: National high school record; ca rec: California state meet record; ca: clocked at California state meet; oc: Orange County record; r: relay leadoff; TL: Trinity League meet record; SVL- Sea View League meet record. Note: diving selections based on CIF-SS, California state performance.