Spartan swimmers sacked by Paly Spartan swimmers sacked by Paly (April 23, 2004)

Lack of depth blamed for losses

By Colleen Corcoran

Even rain clouds failed to dampen the spirits of Mountain View High's hard-working swimmers, who bowed to undefeated Palo Alto April 16 while still turning in some excellent winning times in individual events. The Paly juggernaut took the Mountain View girls 106-80 and the boys, 94-84.

In the poor weather conditions, against a relatively tough team and without number-two swimmer Rebecca Koch, the girls, led by Brooke Bishop, still claimed a series of first-place finishes.

Bishop, at home in between trips to the Junior Nationals and summer Olympic trials, cruised calmly to wins in the 100-yard freestyle (52.17) and the 100-yard backstroke (59.07). There was no drama, just total domination.

"Practice-wise, it's all technique stuff. But when you get to the race, you don't really think about your technique. ... I'm just here to have fun," said Bishop. "Not to brag, but there's not much competition, even at CCS. I have Olympic trials this summer so I'm training for that. I don't think I'll rest too much for CCS."

The only swimmer to come within arm's reach of Bishop is Erica Liu of Mitty, who specializes in different events and who will be joining her next year at Stanford.

Bishop anchored the winning 200-yard freestyle relay (1:43.37) and the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:46.37), led by Janice Miyagi, Erica Lau and Whitney Campbell.

During the 400, Miyagi's first leg brought the Spartans to third place. Lau closed the gap, going stroke for stroke with the second-place swimmer. Then Campbell closed in further on the Paly leader, and 75 yards later, Bishop came finger to toe with her. Creeping up steadily, Bishop finished the race half a body-length ahead and won a round of applause from an audience that appreciated the hard-fought race.

"The nice thing about winning both the 200 free relay and the 400 free relay is that it gives us a chance to say they're going to win the meet but we're going to win that race," said coach Ben Murray.

On the boys' side, the Spartans looked a little lonely in races where they were outnumbered by Paly swimmers three to one.

But after placing third in the 200-yard medley relay, they had a first-place finisher in nearly every subsequent event. It was another example of Mountain View being able to win the race but lose the meet.

Tyler Landrith took an early lead in the 100-yard freestyle, finishing far in front with a CCS second-best time of 49.72 seconds. He also beat his previous CCS record and finished first in the 200-yard freestyle at 1:47.69.

"That's not actually a best time for me because I do club swimming. My best time [in the 100-yard freestyle] is like a 48, so I'm hoping to get a best time at CCS," said Landrith.

Fred Tran added first-place points in the 100-yard butterfly (53.86) and 100-yard backstroke (56.44), as did Steven Quistad in the 500-yard freestyle (5:09.03). Brian Bishop, Tran, Quistad and Landrith claimed both the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:33.36) and 400-yard freestyle relay (3:25.35).

"I feel bad for them," said Murray of his team's lack of depth. "The best they're gonna do is finish fifth but they're working their butts off out there trying to score us points. One point's better than nothing. Some of those guys have been taking a beating all year long. ... We have quality just not quantity."

With only one more league meet against Monta Vista, Mountain View is hoping to pull it together in time for the upcoming league championships.

E-mail Colleen Corcoran at sports@mv-voice.com

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