Westlake, Oaks Christian swim teams win CIF titles
Warrior girls take Division II championship; Lion boys reign supreme in Division III
By Stephen Dorman sdorman@theacorn.com

High school teams from the Conejo Valley made quite an impression during the CIF-Southern Section Swimming Championships last weekend at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach.

Anchored by strong performances from Jackie Brousseau and Aislinn Smalling, the Westlake High girls' squad captured the Division II championship.

According to WHS head coach Todd Irmas, it was the team's first CIF title in 23 years. Five school records were broken during the meet, he added.

"We're just ecstatic," Irmas said. "The girls swam as well as they possibly could."

Brousseau, a sophomore, won Westlake's only individual title when she finished the 50 freestyle in a personal-best time of 23.81 seconds. She was third in the 100 breast stroke.

Smalling was third in both the 200 and 500 freestyle events.

"Both those girls really stepped up and swam very fast," Irmas said.

The Warrior relay teams were phenomenal as well.

Brousseau, Smalling, Iris Yan and Marisa Dewames won the 200 freestyle race with a time of 1:39.53. In the 400 freestyle, Brousseau, Smalling, Meagan Norling-Christensen and Nora Darago finished second.

"Our relay teams made it happen," Irmas said. "You can't win CIF unless you've got relay teams in the top eight because those races are double points. They did really, really well for us."

Thousand Oaks' girls were leading in the point standings until the final relay race. Because they didn't have a team competing at the end, TOHS dropped to fourth place in the final standings.

Camille Duckett of Thousand Oaks won the 100 freestyle and finished second in the 200. Newbury Park's Alex Sullivan was second in the 100 freestyle and fourth in the 200.

The Oaks Christian boys' team swam away with the Division III title in convincing fashion. Fueled by a clean sweep in the relay races, the Lions posted 419 points, far outdistancing secondplace Torrance, who had 170 points.

OCHS won backtoback Division IV titles in 2005 and 2006 before moving up a division this season. Nolan Koon and Kevin Nielsen each won a pair of individual championships for the Lions.

In other Division III action, La Reina's Emily Bibb captured individual titles in the 100 and 200 freestyle events. Her teammate, Laura DeCesare, was second in the 100 breast stroke and fourth in the 200 IM. La Reina also won the 400 freestyle relay.

Allison Hall of Oaks Christian was second in the 100 butterfly and third in the 200 IM.

At Tuesday's CIF Masters meet, Bibb won the 200 freestyle and the OCHS boys' 200 medley relay team finished in first as well.