This week's "Swim of the Week" selection is achieved by Northwood High School varsity boys in the 200 Medley Relay (1:32.57). Photos courtesy of Alex Tolkachev.
In an epic finals race, the Northwood High School varsity boys broke the Mt. SAC meet and pool record in the 200 medley relay to open the 2022 Spring H.S. Meet of Champions on Saturday, April 16, 2022, orchestrating an exciting title win in the process for this week's "Swim of the Week".
Opting to go with Northwood's top gun lineup for the medley relay, the Timberwolves found itself leading in first place with 50 yards to go in the event, ahead of high schools from Murrieta Mesa, Mark Keppel and San Marino by .01 hundredths in a second.
Anchor swimmer Christopher Leung then delivered one of the fastest freestyle legs this season, splitting 20.31 to stay ahead of Murrieta Mesa's Erky Elizondo and Mark Keppel's Ryan Lee winning by eight tenths of a second.
The quartet of
Derek Hitchens (23.06), Eric Zhu (26.42), Younghun (Jason) Kim (22.78), Christopher Leung (20.31) combined for a time of 1:32.57, lowering the previous meet record of 1:32.93 set by La Canada in 2019, and pool record of 1:33.04 from Dos Pueblos High School. The race moved the foursome to tenth in Orange County history.
The boys team also downed another meet record in the 400 free relay that took 0.75 seconds off the old mark in 3:06.32 with the quartet of Derek Hitchens, Will Chen, Elson Lee, and Christopher Leung.
Split Comparison
To get an idea of the flow of the race and the effort done by the Timberwolves, here’s a look at the splits (and running time) of the three medal-winning high schools.
| Northwood |
Murrieta Mesa |
Mark Keppel |
| Derek Hitchens – 23.06 BK |
Maximus Dillon – 24.91 BK |
Adam Truong – 24.47 BK |
Eric Zhu – 26.42 BR
(49.48) |
Ty Schneider – 25.69 BR (50.60) |
Ray Chun – 26.81 BR (51.28) |
| Younghun (Jason) Kim – 22.78 FL (1:12.26) |
Justin Schneider – 21.67 FL (1:12.27) |
Frank Pang – 23.34 FL (1:14.62) |
| Christopher Leung – 20.31 FR (1:32.57) |
Erky Elizondo – 21.10 FR (1:33.37) |
Ryan Lee – 20.98 (1:35.60) |