Despite obstacles, Trojans are in the swim

By Phillip Brents

CHULA VISTA, April 30, 2002 -- This is the fifth year that Nikki Perez and Patti Hagel have served as co-coaches of the Castle Park High School swim team. What makes this year more challenging than others is not necessarily the lack of numbers but the lack of numbers due to a switch in practice and competition venues with the renovation of the Loma Verde pool.

Both Hilltop and Castle Park high schools have been forced to relocate their swim programs to the Parkway pool in downtown Chula Vista while the Loma Verde pool undergoes a conversion to a full Olympic-size configuration. The latter facility is now expected to reopen in June. It had been hoped the renovations would have been completed in time for this year’s Metro Conference swim championships to have been held there. Instead, the league prelim and finals will take place next week at Southwestern College.

The girls prelims will be held Wednesday (May 8), followed by the boys prelims Thursday (May 9) and the championship finals on Friday (May 10). The diving finals will take place Tuesday (May 7) at the Parkway pool. Warmups for all four events start at 1:30 p.m., followed by competition at 3 p.m.

In the move to Parkway pool -- already in use from dawn until dark-- the Trojans got the worse end of the practice schedule, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m, as well as incurring a transportation dilemma. Whereas students once had the luxury of walking to the Loma Verde pool from classes, they now must navigate several miles across town for 3 p.m. dual meets and evening practice sessions. Both the extra mileage and later practice times have proven difficult to overcome, coaches say, for a student body in which many student-athletes must hold part-time jobs to help supplement incomes of their respective families. There are five boys and seven girls on this year’s CPHS team.

However, both Perez and Hagel said enthusiasm remains high for those who have been able to solve transportation headaches to practices.

"The kids come out for the fun of it," Perez said. "It’s been made more cumbersome because we lost our home pool. Practices are 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. There are transportation problems. In our community, some of our kids have to work. That hurts a lot. But I have great expectations for next year. We’re hoping for individual improvement next year. We expect to have a much larger squad. Depth is our No. 1 detriment to the team. We can’t fill slots, so we just stress personal improvement. They’ve been bringing their times down. That’s positive."

Hagel, whose daughter Sarah swims for the Trojans, concurs. "To keep a positive attitude, we try to make the practices fun," she said. "As long as they come and swim, have fun, finish their races and improve their times, that’s what makes it rewarding. Being so far south, it’s hard to get the kids to practices."

Senior Isaiah Gordon is among the returners on the boys team. He also wrestles for the school and is proud of the eighth-place finish he took in his 160-pound weight class at this year’s San Diego Section Division II championships. His specialty events in swimming include the 50- and 100-yard freestyle distances.

"I like competing. I like the adrenaline rush. I wrestled. That got me in shape for this," he said. "I’ve made steady improvement. I wasn’t able to improve all I want to because I also work."

Rounding out this year’s boys team are returners Carlos Osuna and Daniel Hernandez, both juniors, and newcomers Lamont Gordon, a senior, and Ruben Gonzalez, a sophomore. The girls team is buttressed by standouts Sarah Hagel and Mayra Ramos, both juniors, sophomores Whitney Brooks and Alya Ali and freshmen Denise Diaz and Monica and Jessica Ybarra, both twins.

Perez said she has a lot of expectations next year for the twins, in particular.

The lack of depth was evident in the Trojans’ lopsided losses to Hilltop in the teams’ April 25 meet. However, encouraging performances were turned in by Brooks (third in the breaststroke) and Diaz (fourth in the 100 free) in the girls half of the meet and by Gonzalez (second in the 200 free) and Isaiah Gordon (third in the 100 free) in the boys meet.

Hilltop swimmers swept first-place finishes in all events in the meet, with the Lancer girls sweeping the top two place-finishing positions in all 11 swimming events.