Bishop leads Spartans to 4th place finish in league Bishop leads Spartans to 4th place finish in league (May 14, 2004)

Swimming superstar sets two De Anza records

By Jon Wiener

Brooke Bishop did a lot more than just dominate the competition in both her individual events and as anchor on two winning relay teams at last Friday's SCVAL De Anza Division swimming finals at Los Altos High School.

That much we've come to expect from her.

Not only did she set two De Anza Division records, earn All-American honors in both events and set yet another fastest mark in the section. She also reminded her little brother that she still happens to be the faster one.

Bishop's performance last Friday in the SCVAL De Anza Division championships stood out among several high points in the course of the four-day meet. Other top swimmers included Courtney Beyer of Los Altos, who came away a champion in both the 200 individual medley and the 100 butterfly, and Palo Alto's Monika Friedman, who won the 200 and 500 freestyle.

Bishop, the defending CCS champion in both the 100-yard backstroke and the 50 freestyle, put the rest of the section on notice Friday.

In the 50, Bishop set a new league record with a time of 23.66, finishing an incredible second and a half ahead of second place Becky Wenzlau of Palo Alto and third-place Whitney Campbell, a junior teammate of Bishop's at Mountain View. The record, which Bishop also broke in preliminary trials on Wednesday, had belonged to former St. Francis Lancer Adrienne Mattos, whose CCS record Bishop broke at last year's section championships.

Bishop's backstroke victory was even more stunning. Her time of 56.55 was nearly a second faster than her qualifying swim and shattered every applicable measurement. By comparison, Domini Lazarovici of Monta Vista broke the seven-year-old league record earlier in the season and still wound up finishing 3.85 seconds behind Bishop in the final.

For the Mountain View girls, Bishop's performance was by no means the only highlight, as the team took home fourth place overall. A year after the Mountain View girls swept through the weaker El Camino Division en route to a second place finish at CCS finals, Mountain View saw Campbell and Erika Lau step up to replace the firepower lost when seniors Laurie Gregg and Kelly Blakemore and others from last year's squad graduated. Twin sisters Lindsey and Ginny Tice both reached the butterfly finals. And another future star, freshman Rebecca Koch, was out with an elbow injury.

"Each year's different," said head coach Ben Murray. "You lose someone like a Laurie, and then someone comes in like Rebecca and really steps up." Murray said he is hoping for a top five finish for the girls this weekend at CCS.

Meanwhile, the Mountain View boys took fifth, led by strong performances from Frederick Tran and Tyler Landrith. Tran came away with titles in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke, while Landrith won the 200 freestyle and took second in the 100. Brian Bishop finished 10th in the 100 freestyle and fourth in the backstroke, shaving seconds off his entered times in both events.

According to Murray, Brian Bishop's focus, like so many other swimmers, is on catching his sister.

"It will happen eventually," Brooke Bishop said with a laugh.

The hometown Eagles had a little sibling rivalry of their own. Courtney Beyer's sister Caitlin made finals in both the IM and the fly, finishing fifth and fourth, respectively.

On the boys' side, Los Altos avenged a dual meet loss to Monta Vista and finished third behind Gunn and Paly. Junior Connor McColl's anchor leg in the 400 freestyle relay preserved the margin of victory for the Eagles, who hosted the league meet for the first time in the school's history.

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