Mission Viejo Swimmers Win in Southern Section Meet

It is reassuring in these troubling times that there is still something that we can set our watches and calendars by.

The Mission Viejo High School boys’ swimming team, to name one.

And the Mission Viejo High School girls’ swimming team, to name two.

You can set your calendars by these two teams winning the CIF Southern Section swimming championships every spring and your watch by the times that the individual Diablos turn in.

The 1986 meet Friday at East Los Angeles College saw the Mission Viejo boys’ team win its 12th consecutive title and the girls’ team its 11th straight.

Mission Viejo’s boys beat Capistrano Valley for the title, 198 points to 154. That included scores from diving finals earlier in the week. The Diablo girls also beat Capistrano Valley, 310.50 to 251.50.

It used to be that the Diablos would overwhelm the field with sheer numbers of quality swimmers, but the field--led by Capistrano Valley--has made some gains.

This has forced the Diablos to rely somewhat on the star system, and two of the brightest were Kim Brown and Dan Jorgensen.

Brown won the girls’ 200- and 500-yard freestyle events, and Jorgensen won the same two boys’ races, except he was disqualified from the 500 for swimming in the wrong lane. It didn’t have an effect on the outcome, however, since Mission Viejo easily won the title.