The future might not be exactly now, as some had hoped, but it is coming along for Bonita Vista High’s Paul Hernandez and Eastlake High’s Nik Clair-Williams. The two juniors finished second in their respective specialty events at last Saturday’s San Diego Section Division I swimming championships at Mt. Carmel High School. The champions in each event graduate next month.

Hernandez, the Metro Conference’s reigning Male Swimmer of the Year, finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke to Torrey Pines senior John Rogers and was third in the 200-yard individual medley to event-winner Rogers and runner-up Eddie Erazo of Mt. Carmel.

Hernandez entered last Saturday’s finals as the top-seeded swimmer in the 200 IM and was seeded second (to Rogers) in the breaststroke. In the morning’s first event, Rogers dropped more than nine seconds off his prelim time of 2:03.32 to win with a season-best 1:54.19 clocking. Erazo shaved more than seven seconds off his prelim time of 2:05.39 to finish second in 1:57.98 (just off his seed time). Hernandez bettered his top prelim clocking of 2:02.06 with a finals time of 2:01.87. His seed time was 2:03.46.

In the breaststroke — the final individual event of the day — Hernandez timed 1:01.05 to Rogers’ winning mark of 59.70. Hernandez clocked 1:01.01 in the prelims held the prior Wednesday. Rogers shaved almost a second off his prelim time of 1:00.59. Hernandez’ seed time in the event was 1:03.49.

“John Rogers will graduate next year. Basically, I’m going to refocus on long course because the turns are where he beat me,” explained Hernandez, who captured both the IM and breaststroke events at this year’s Metro Conference championships May 10 at Southwestern College.

The three-time Metro 50-yard sprint champion, Clair-Williams moved up to the Division I level this year after winning last year’s Division II title as a sophomore. However, Division I champion Ryan Karlson stood in his way. Karlson set a section record in winning last year’s Division I title and touched with a finals time of 20.67 to edge the second-seeded Eastlake swimmer (21.79). Karlson won last year’s Division I title in 20.90; Clair-Williams reigned supreme in last year’s Division II finals in 21.91. Clair-Williams bettered both his prelim time (21.94) and seed time (22.61); Karlson dropped nearly a second off his top prelim clocking to win his third consecutive 50 sprint title.

Clair-Williams came back to finish sixth in the 100 freestyle finals with a time of 49.50 in a fast field in which the five top swimmers all eclipsed their prelim times. Oceanside sophomore Scott Beard won the event in 46.98. The field looks to continue to get faster as the top four finishers are all underclassmen. West Hills junior Tim Fuller finished second in 47.18 while Rancho Buena Vista junior Cheyne O’Gorman finished third in 47.31and Poway junior Matt Tulburg was fourth in 48.29.

Keyed by Hernandez’ performance, Bonita Vista placed sixth overall in the team standings. It was the highest placing by the Metro’s premier team in the past decade.

“Next year, we’re going to be faster,” Hernandez said. “We have a lot of young swimmers coming up who’ll be freshmen. We graduate relatively few fast swimmers. It will be fun next year.”

The Bonita Vista unit of Nathan Golder, Bram Hanono, Hernandez and Jesse Gallegos finished sixth in 400 free relay. The same foursome won the consolation 200 medley relay.

A two-event Metro champion, Gallegos was sixth in the 100 backstroke finals and third (ninth overall) in the consolation 100 free finals. Hanono finished fifth in the 500 free finals while grabbing a runner-up finish (eighth overall) in the consolation 200 free finals. Golder finished second in consolation 50 free finals (eighth overall) and was sixth (12th overall) in the consolation 100 free finals.

The Bonita Vista unit of Mark Adato, Mario Morales, John Harthorn and Jeff Balistreri finished fifth (11th overall) in consolation 200 free relay.

Montgomery senior Jose Serratos, the Metro’s 100 butterfly champion, finished second in the consolation finals in the event and was sixth in the consolation 200 free field (12th overall).

Torrey Pines ended Valhalla’s two-year hold on the boys Division I team title by amassing a meet best 236.5 points, followed by Poway (146), Mt. Carmel (143), Carlsbad (120) and the Norsemen (101). Bonita Vista (95) finished ahead of seventh-place RBV(90), eighth-place Granite Hills (83), ninth-place Fallbrook (74) and 10th-place West Hills and Oceanside, both tied with 70 points.

Torrey Pines made it a sweep of Division I titles by also claiming the girls team championship in similar runaway fashion. The Falcons totaled 217 points to out-distance runner-up La Costa Canyon (180), third-place Rancho Bernardo (169), fourth-place Mt. Carmel (154), fifth-place Poway (125.5), sixth-place Granite Hills (120.5), seventh-place Carlsbad (105), eighth-place Valhalla (104.5), ninth-place RBV(57) and 10th-place West Hills (39). Bonita Vista finished just out of the top 10 teams with an 11th-place finish with 30.5 points.

The Barons’ highest place-finish in the consolation finals came with a second-place finish (eighth overall) in the 400 free relay courtesy of the foursome of Rebecca Jimenez, Brandi Schlick, Danielle Torre and Melissa Mattero. Bonita Vista (Marianne Paradowski, Alvizia Alexander, Lara Balistreri and Katie Leahy) finished third (ninth overall) in the 200 free relay while the unit of Schlick, Torre, Alvizia Alexander and Kim Linder came in fourth (10th overall) in the meet-opening 200 medley relay.

Among individuals, Schlick was third (ninth overall) in the consolation 100 free finals and sixth in the consolation backstroke finals (12th overall). Schlick won both the 100 free and 100 backstroke events at the conference finals.

Marian Catholic junior Roberto Lopez produced the highlights of the Division IImeet for South Bay swimmers by finishing fifth in the 500 free finals and winning the consolation title in the 100 butterfly. A two-time Metro champion in the 500 free, Lopez notched the fifth-place finish after winning last year’s consolation title in the event. Lopez timed 4:58.10 this year after posting the seventh-best time last year in 5:00.06. Lopez (56.08) topped University of San Diego High junior Brian Sisk (57.06) by nearly a full second to secure the consolation 100 fly title. Coronado senior Andrew Dunlevy won the 500 free in a season-best 4:40.75, shaving nearly eight seconds off his prelim time and more than 11 seconds off his seed time.

Mar Vista’s Metro champion boys 200 free relay team finished fourth in the consolation finals while senior Juan Vera was sixth in the consolation 100 breaststroke finals.

Sweetwater senior Kyle Delangel finished 16th. He failed to make the second cut down to 12 divers with 181.65 points after entering the meet with a seed score of 254.60 points. The Red Devil diver, a three-year veteran, had finished fourth at the Metro finals.

“He tried his best. I’m proud of him,” said SuHi dive coach Corey Fimpel.

Poway swept both the boys and girls Division I dive titles. Joining Watson with a championship medal was freshman Elyse Penner. Watson, however, looks to have a challenge and, in the least, possible heir apparent in the guise of RBV freshman Aaron Stinson, who finished fourth with 363 points. Exhibiting clean form and near perfect entries throughout the program, Stinson looked deserving to finish higher than his final score. Fallbrook senior Brent Craig finished third with 370.05 points. Slender, who finished runner-up to Watson at last year’s finals, was second with 406.60 points.