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Busy weekend statewide for high school swimming invitationals

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The rising tides from Santa Margarita’s historic swimming meet on March 28 will continue to be felt this weekend as a trio of high school invitationals clash on Saturday.

The Foothill Swim Games, Mt. SAC Spring Meet of Champions and California Catholic Challenge are all scheduled for Saturday.

And if that’s not enough racing, the Fran Crippen Memorial Swim Meet of Champions — a club meet hosted by the Mission Viejo Nadadores — runs Thursday and Sunday.

Santa Margarita’s fleet of record-breaking swimmers will be split up this week, co-coach Rich Blanc said. Some swimmers will race at Foothill while others will head to Sacred Heart Prep in Atherton for the California Catholic Challenge.

The members of the Eagles’ newly-minted, national high school record girls 200-yard freestyle relay will be at Crippen Swim Meet of Champions, Blanc said.

The team of junior Teia Salvino (22.77), senior Asia Kozan (22.57), sophomore Gracyn Aquino (22.46) and sophomore anchor Teagan O’Dell (21.81) combined to smash the national high school record — private or public — with a time of 1 minute, 29.61 seconds at the Loyola Invite at USC on March 28.

Santa Margarita broke the record set by Carmel of Indiana (1:30.23) earlier this year by more than half a second.

The Eagles’ record-setting performances didn’t stop there.

O’Dell, The Register’s reigning female swimmer of the year, became the first Orange County girl to break one minute in the 100-yard breaststroke by touching in a county-record 59.73.

Santa Margarita’s boys 200 medley (1:29.97) and 200 freestyle (1:22.76) relays also blazed county records. The 200 free relay featured leadoff Hunter Cehelnik (20.97 seconds), Allen Cai (20.71), Daniel Verdolaga (20.67) and anchor Ramon Jiang (20.41).

Cehelnik and Verdolaga — both juniors — also set school records in the 100 free (44.68) and 100 butterfly (47.75), respectively.

The Foothill Swim Games will feature a small number of schools but could produce fast times from Villa Park, Crean Lutheran, Esperanza and Beckman among others.

The meet begins Thursday and Friday with the boys and girls prelims, respectively. Finals are Saturday at 10 a.m.

Villa Park’s girls team will feature standouts Allison Mann and Lucy Flynn while Crean Lutheran will be a team to watch on the boys side.

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Northwood will be among the top squads at the Mt. SAC meet, a large meet that begins Friday with prelims and diving. The finals are scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m. More than 1,800 athletes registered for the meet.

The Timberwolves’ boys won the title last season in their debut at the Mt. SAC spring championships. University and Troy are other county teams racing at the meet this week.

Mater Dei will be among the schools joining Santa Margarita at the California Catholic Challenge on Saturday. The timed finals begin at 10 a.m.

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