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Just call them Teagan O’Dell’s senior trips, and mark them as ultra valuable.
The Santa Margarita standout mixed swimming with friendship earlier this spring with a series of short adventures.
O’Dell visited and trained with future Cal roommate Claire Weinstein at the powerhouse Sandpipers of Nevada club. She attended the NCAA Division I men’s championships in Washington to support the Golden Bears and learn about high-level collegiate racing. And she went to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado for a U.S junior national team camp.
“I’ve been a pretty busy girl,” she said recently, “but I’m so excited with everything that’s going on.”
O’Dell turned that energy into another fantastic performance Friday in her final Trinity League championships.
She achieved one of her major goals by breaking Olympian Katie McLaughlin’s school and Orange County record in the 200-yard freestyle to highlight the finals at JSerra.
O’Dell edged McLaughlin’s mark by three one-hundredths of a second by touching in 1 minute, 42.98 seconds to give her a remarkable six current Orange County records in the eight individual events offered in high school swimming.
“I think she’s the best girls swimmer that Orange County has ever had, and I know that’s saying a lot,” Santa Margarita co-coach Rich Blanc said. “There’s a lot of great athletes who came before but you just look at the data.”
“Yeah, training has gotten better. Nutrition has gotten better. And coaching has gotten better,” the coach added. “But to hard to argue (with her times).”
O’Dell, The Register’s three-time O.C. female swimmer of the year, split the first half of the 200 free in 50.30, three one-hundredths of a second faster than McLaughlin’s record pace in 2015. O’Dell held strong in the back-half of the race by splitting 52.68, the same back-half split as McLaughlin.
O’Dell quickly looked at the timing board after the race and then flashed a wide smile.
“Usually I don’t really have reaction after races but I’ve been wanting that record for like four years so I was pretty happy to see that I just squeaked under it,” O’Dell said. “I ran to my mom (Marni) after, too, because we’ve been talking about this record all season.”
“I knew I was going to have one shot to get it so I was really happy,” added O’Dell, whose time is the fastest in the nation this year.
O’Dell won the 100 butterfly in a league-record and county-leading 52.17.
She will head to the CIF-SS Division 1 championships next week at Mt. SAC as the Orange County record-holder in 200 free, 200 individual medley (1:53.38), 50 (22.40) and 100 freestyles (48.37), 100 backstroke (50.96) and 100 breaststroke (59.73).
“Honestly, I don’t look too much at the records,” said O’Dell, whose 200 IM time is also the national high school record. “I just try to give it my all in the water. I was talking to one of my coaches the other day about how fun swimming is for me because I swim different strokes. I never really get bored of a stroke.”
“Training IM has kept me a well-rounded swimmer,” she added.
Santa Margarita’s girls captured their 25th consecutive league title by scoring 705 points.
Gracyn Aquino, also a Cal-bound senior, swept the 50 (23.23) and 100 (51.17) freestyles while Nicole Christensen won the 200 IM (2:03.51) and 100 back (57.37).
JSerra senior Sydney Willson, the daughter of county legend Janet Evans (El Dorado), prevented a Santa Margarita sweep of the individual races by winning the 500 free (4:57.67).
Santa Margarita’s boys won their seventh straight title with 657 points. The Eagles showed strong depth and crowned individual champions in Daniel Fu (butterfly 50.18) and Adam Lee (100 free 46.73).
Mater Dei’s Elonzo Santos and JSerra’s Nolan Baker — both juniors – won two events and set school records. Santos touched first in the 200 IM (school-record 1:51.74) and breaststroke (league-record 55.19) while Baker won the 50 free (21.19) and backstroke (school-record 49.73).
In other league finals Friday:
In the Sunset League: The Los Alamitos boys and Newport Harbor girls claimed league titles at Golden West College while Newport Harbor’s Connor Ohl blazed in the 50 free.
Ohl, an All-County water polo player, become only the second boy in Orange County history to break 20 seconds in the 50 free by winning in a league-record 19.79.
The junior challenged the county-record of Olympian Michael Cavic of Tustin, who clocked a 19.69 in 2002.
Ohl won the 100 free in 44.86.
Fountain Valley set five league records.
Sophomore Alyssa Ton set two in winning the 200 free (1:44.50) and 100 back (53.68). She helped the Barons’ girls medley relay clock a league-record 1:44.00.
Peter Vu, a junior, set one in the breaststroke finals (54.62) and another in the 200 IM prelims (1:48.43)
Fountain Valley’s Kaitlyn Nguyen sizzled in winning the 200 IM in 1:59.76.
Newport Harbor’s girls outscored Fountain Valley 511.5-396.5 for their third straight title.
Los Alamitos’s boys went 6-0 in league dual meets and scored 461.5 points to outscore Newport Harbor by almost 35 points to win the league finals meet.
In the Pacific Coast League: University’s surprising boys and Woodbridge girls claimed titles at Woollett Aquatics Center.
Northwood’s Derek Hitchens set conference records for the butterfly (48.29) and backstroke (48.47). Teammate Andrew Maksymowski won the 200 IM (1:49.44) and set the conference record in the 500 free (4:25.28).
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