Blair’s Ella Lesnever sets two meet records at CIF-SS Division 4 swimming finals

WALNUT — The smile on Blair’s Ella Lesnever said it all during Thursday’s CIF Southern Section Division 4 swimming finals at Mt. San Antonio College.

Lesnever was determined to finish her senior year as a double winner for the second consecutive season, and she did just that, setting records along the way.

Lesnever set her sights on breaking the Division 4 meet record in the 50 yard freestyle, and she got it, touching home in a winning time of 22.92. Lesnever broke Mary Hanson of Ridgecrest Immanuel Christian’s record of 23.11 that she set in 2010, breaking the 15-year-old record.

Lesnever, a University of Wyoming commit, won her fourth straight CIF-SS title in the 50 free. After winning as a freshman in Division 4, she won the title in Division 3 her sophomore year, and won back-to-back in Division 4 the past two years.

“It’s been a long time coming, a lot of trial and error,” Lesnever said afterward. “I’ve dropped like two to three seconds the last four years.”

Breaking 23 seconds was something she had been chasing.

“That was the goal,” Lesnever said. “That’s been the goal for so long and I’m glad it finally happened. It’s sort of relief and accomplishment. I’ve been training for it so hard, for so long, so it was nice to finally go under and see how my hard work came together.”

Lesnever also dominated in the 100 freestyle, breaking the Division 4 record she set last year. Lesnever breezed to the finish line, breaking the 50 second mark with a winning time of 49.83, well ahead of second place finisher Abigail Tomayo of Oxnard Pacifica in 52.71.

Lesnever broke her record of 50.25 from a year ago.

“This was pretty exciting, so fun,” Lesnever said of winning two titles and setting two records. “It was the goal.”

While Lesnever’s high school swimming career is coming to an end, Muir’s Rosio Valencia’s is just getting started.

Valencia, a freshman, pulled away over the final two legs of the girls 200 yard medley final. She went ahead during the breaststroke and finished strong in the freestyle to win in 2:11.73. She finished well ahead of Moorpark’s Chloe Cheevers, who finished second in 2:15.97.

Valencia also earned a third-place medal in the 200 breaststroke, finishing in 1:07.88

Muir’s swimming program restarted six years ago after nearly two decades without a team. Muir’s coaches were not sure if Valencia was Muir’s first individual champion ever. But they know it has been at least two decades or more.

“It means a lot for being one of the first to win CIF for Muir and that I made my team proud as well,” Valencia said..

Valencia said she was nervous early on in the 200 medley, but settled down once she took the lead.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Valencia said. “On my backstroke I tried to keep it up because that’s where I usually slow down. When I went ahead on the breaststroke that’s when I knew I had it because my back half (of the race) is always better than my front half.”

Maranatha junior Elijah Redson had a big day and was a big reason the Minutemen finished fourth in the boys team standings.

Redson won the 100 backstroke in 50.86, holding off a pair of local challengers. South Hills’ Victor Barrios was second (54.38) and Marshall’s Finnigan Slattery third (55.51).

Redson also medaled in the 200 medley, finishing third in 1:57.78. Rosemead’s Austin Ly was fifth in 2:03.09. Ly also finished third in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.09)

Maranatha finished third in two relays. The team of Redson, Jonas Heinstedt, Brayden Chiu and Benny Qiu finished third in the 50-yard medley relay (1:46.16) and third in the 50 free relay (1:34.02).

Sierra Vista senior Steven Olvera reached the finals in two events. Olvera was fourth in the 500 freestyle (4:50.55) and finished eighth in the 200 free (1:48.77).

South Hills’ Barrios finished fifth in the 100 butterly in 52.26. Los Altos’ Harry Wang was eighth in 54.30.