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Teagan O’Dell sets national record as Santa Margarita swimming sweeps CIF state titles

May 14, 2023

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FRESNO — Neon orange nail polish. Pink-colored eye black. Earrings to complement her gold swim cap. And plenty of games and cheering with teammates.

Santa Margarita’s Teagan O’Dell came to the CIF State swimming championships ready to have fun, and of course, race fast.

For the 16-year-old, fun and racing work together like her stroke in the water.

And Saturday, that combination performed like never before.

The sophomore broke the national high school record of Olympian Torri Huske in the 200-yard individual medley by almost half-a-second to highlight the meet at Clovis West High.

Santa Margarita became the first school in the seven-year history of the meet to sweep the boys and girls team titles. It was the girls’ fourth consecutive crown and the first for the boys.

But when it came it individual performances, there was no doubt who ruled the pool.

“Teagan O’Dell is probably one of the most capable female athletes in Orange County history,” Northwood coach Alex Nieto said. “It’s nice to see her smiling.”

O’Dell paced Orange County’s swift fleet by also setting county and state records in the 50 freestyle and lowering her county and state records in the 100 backstroke.

She accomplished it all, she said, by focusing on having fun.

“At high school meets, I feel like cheering is more fun than swimming sometimes,” O’Dell said with a laugh. “When the team energy is there, everyone just improves. There’s a phrase, ‘When you’re having fun, (kids) swim fast.’ “

O’Dell became the fastest high school girl in history in the 200 IM. She completed her pursuit of the record by blazing a time of 1 minute, 53.38 seconds, breaking Huske’s 2021 record of 1:53.73 for Yorktown High in Virginia.

O’Dell started well in the butterfly leg but made her move on the 2020 Olympian’s record by splitting 26.94 in the backstroke and 33.61 in the breaststroke. She then pushed to the finish, splitting 27.45 in the freestyle.

Her final three splits were all faster than Huske’s last three splits.

“I wanted that record pretty bad,” said O’Dell, who challenged the mark last week at the CIF-SS Championships. “I honestly had no idea where I was at (time wise). … I didn’t at all want to second-guess myself so just put my head down and tried to go as fast as I could.”

O’Dell’s time broke the national age-group record for the 15-16 division by more than half-a-second. Her record-setting efforts were just starting.

She led off the 200 freestyle relay with a lifetime-best and meet-record 22.40, breaking Lindsey Engel’s 2013 county record in the 50 free of 22.53.

O’Dell capped her meet by winning the 100 backstroke in a state and county record of 50.96, which sliced almost two-tenths off her lifetime-best.

Santa Margarita had two other individual champions and won two relays en route to scoring 223 points, which outdistanced runner-up Campolindo (143).

Senior Asia Kozan won the 200 free with a season-best 1:46.02. Her sister, Justina, set the meet record in 2022.

Sophomore Gracyn Aquino claimed the 50 free in 22.84 and used her long and graceful stroke to anchor the 200 (1:30.90) and 400 (3:22.62) free relays to victories. The 200 free team of O’Dell, Chloe Stinson, Asia Kozan and Aquino broke the Eagles’ state record from prelims.

Santa Margarita’s boys began their record-setting pursuits Saturday by capturing the 200 medley relay in an Orange County and state record 1:29.01.

The team of Humberto Najera, Nathan Wu, Daniel Verdolaga and Ramon Jiang sliced about three-tenths of a second off their record from the section finals.

The Eagles didn’t win another relay or individual event but used their depth to score 202 points, which outdistanced runner-up Loyola at 168.5.

Najera placed second in the 200 IM (1:46.24) and 100 back (47.83).

“Just an amazing season for the kids,” Santa Margarita co-coach Rich Blanc said. “We told the guys a couple weeks ago, no matter what happens … this is the best team in school history but it’s nice to have a (state) title now to punctuate that.”

Northwood’s boys placed fourth with 125 points, best among SoCal public schools. The Timberwolves set school records in all three relays, including a time of 3:00.52 as it finished third in the 400.

San Juan Hills’ David Schmitt defended his title in the 100 butterfly by again outdueling Long Beach Poly’s Colin Geer. The Harvard-bound Schmitt touched in 46.49, just off his county record but about two-tenths of a second in front of the Michigan-bound Geer.

But it didn’t take setting a record to stand out Saturday.

Loyola star Rex Maurer sweep the 200 (1:33.84) and 500 (4:16.17) freestyles to cap his stellar career. He set the national record in the 500 free last week with a 4:12.70.

Mission Viejo’s Alexis Unter dropped more than 22 seconds from her entry time to win her heat of the girls Paralympic 100 free.

Villa Park freshman Lucy Flynn placed 14th in the 500 free (4:58.99), a consolation final she qualified for by winning a swim-off for during prelims Friday. Yes, she won a rare swim-off in the 500, and even lowered her time in the second race.

“That was intense,” Flynn said of the swim-off. “Today kind of hurt but yesterday, dropping two seconds within half an hour, was awesome.”

In the state diving competition Thursday, Cypress junior Isabella Chen won the girls 1-meter title with a state-record score of 546.95. She edged the record of 538.75 set by El Toro’s Savannah Stocker in 2019.

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Teagan O’Dell sets national record as Santa Margarita swimming sweeps CIF state titles

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