The defending South Bay League champion Mar Vista High School boys and girls swim teams appear to be headed for another standout season. The Mariners opened defense of their dual titles by sweeping Hilltop in a high profile encounter April 4 at the Parkway pool but the real story behind what could be a 2002 record-breaking season has been the amount of experience the Imperial Beach swim squads have obtained.

The Mariners have conducted non-league meets against El Cajon Valley, Grossmont and Oceanside besides competing in a 10-team invitational in Murrieta Valley. Mar Vista swims at Mt. Miguel on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. in another non-league meet.

The out-of-area meets have put the Mariner swim program on the map. The Mar Vista girls team lost by one point, 85-84, to El Cajon Valley while winning the girls junior varsity meet 113-42. The Mariners topped Serra 113-68 in varsity girls action and 114-53 in boys varsity action.

Heading into Thursday’s league meet against Castle Park, both Mar Vista teams had added double dual meet victories against Southwest, Chula Vista and Sweetwater to the one against Hilltop.

“This is a big year for us. We’ve never gotten this much competition out of league. We have several swimmers who have already gotten or are close to getting consideration or automatic CIF times,” said Mar Vista girls coach Sue Czerwiec, whose two sons, Julian and Joe, star for the boys squad.

Mar Vista finished second to Bonita Vista in both the boys and girls team standings at last year’s conference finals and is aiming to repeat that performance this year after falling to the Barons in dual meet action March 14.

“We have more talented swimmers in the water who are returning, year-round swimmers. With a pack of freshmen coming in who are year-round swimmers and who have swum for several years, that’s a big asset for us,” Sue Czerwiec said.

At the Murrieta meet, Mar Vista placed fourth overall as a team. Senior Juan Vera finished third in the 100-yard breaststroke while both Julian Czerwiec (100 backstroke) and Joe Czerwiec (100 butterfly) finished with consolation event titles.

Vera, who finished third at last year’s conference finals, has already notched a CIF consideration time in the breaststroke event while Joe Czerwiec (butterfly) also owns a consideration time in his specialty event. Seniors Kyle Collins and Mike Andrade are both close to nabbing consideration times in the 50 freestyle along with Joe Czerwiec. A two-sport spring sports athlete, Collins also ranks among the section’s top hitters while serving as a starting pitcher for the school’s baseball team.

Among individual boys at last year’s conference finals, Joe Czerwiec, now a junior, finished fourth in the butterfly while winning the 200 freestyle consolation title. Both Collins (100 free) and Zach Garland (500 free) were second in consolation finals events. Garland is a junior this year.

The 200 medley relay team of Joe and Julian Czerwiec, Vera and Collins has already met the CIF consideration time standard while the 200 free relay team sporting the same individuals is just 0.2 second off earning an automatic CIF entry time.

Julian Czerwiec is having a standout freshman season. A year-round swimmer, he has seven years of experience as a member of the Imperial Beach swim team, is a tri-sport high school athlete (boys water polo, basketball and swimming) and is enrolled in the school’s Marine Science Academy program. He is closing in on securing a CIF consideration time in the backstroke. “He definitely will be a strong swimmer for Mar Vista for four years,” said his proud mother.

The success of the boys’ team (6-2) has somewhat surprised boys’ head coach Chad Kavanagh. “It’s a rebuilding year — three-fourths of my team are new swimmers. Taking that into consideration, we’re having an awesome season,” he said.

On the girls side, the Mariners welcome back five four-year swimmers with the program: seniors Shelli Homer, Stephanie Riley, Kathleen Whitehead, Maritza Johnson and Nissa Cooley. The team returns all four swimmers (Shannon Jauregui, Rebeca Valadez, Staci Warren and Sarah Latoski) who competed in the 200 freestyle relay at last year’s Division II section prelims and return three of four swimmers in the 400 free relay. Both relays have already notched CIF consideration times while Warren (100 free) and Homer (breaststroke) have both recorded individual consideration times thus far this season. Warren is close to a consideration time in the 200 individual medley while Valadez, who participated in last year’s CIF prelim meet in the 500 free, is closing in on consideration times in both the 200 and 500 freestyle events this spring.

Valadez finished fifth in both the 200 free and 500 free events at last year’s Metro finals while Riley (200 free), Jauregui (100 free) and Jennifer Hobdell (100 back) all captured consolation championships. Warren (200 IM) and Latoski (50 free) both took second-place consolation finishes.

Besides the depth in returning talent, the Mar Vista girls team has been buttressed by impressive performances from a trio of freshmen: Jennifer Parra, Julie Hatfield and Vivid Love.

In the April 4 meet against Hilltop, the Mariner girls won nine of 12 events en route to claiming a 125-58 victory while the Mar Vista boys claimed wins in eight of the 12 events while defeating the Lancers 111-67. Vera (200 IM, breaststroke), Joe Czerwiec (50 free, 100 fly) and Valadez (200 free, 500 free) all doubled with individual first-place finishes.

“This was the biggest meet,” Sue Czerwiec said.

Mar Vista closes its league season with dual meets against Marian Catholic April 18 and May 2, both on campus, and a cross-league meet against Montgomery April 25 at the National City Municipal pool.

Hilltop’s Kovar exhibits fine form in near-record diving performance