YOUTH SPORTS

SWIMMING

South Coast Swim Conference Relay Finals

The Newport Hills swim team Killer Whales finished third at the 41st annual South Coast Swim Conference Relay Finals, held July 8 at Corona del Mar High.

All six SCSC teams participated in the event, including Greenbrook, Green Valley, Harbor View, Lake Forest and Pacific Sands.

Unlike conference dual meets, the relay finals are composed of five relays (medley, breaststroke, butterfly, backstroke and freestyle) for each age and gender.

Fifteen meet records were shattered, and the Green Valley Dolphins of Huntington Beach ended up in first place.

For Newport Hills, the boys’ 6-and-under group of Jack Bendetti, Morgan Cortens, Charlie Jacobs, Will Klein, Henry Wilde and Grayson Wueste won the 100-yard medley, breaststroke, butterfly, backstroke and freestyle relays.

The Newport Hills girls’ 6-and-under team won three of five events to claim their division’s team title.

Isabella Gerken, Leah Givant, Ashley Humphreys and Lauren Openshaw set the new 6-and-under girls’ breaststroke relay finals record.

The Newport Hills boys’ 7- and 8-year-old team of Taylor Cortens, Mitch Dean, J.T. Russell and Nick Schroeder tied a team record in the 100 free relay.

SOFTBALL

Pacific Coast League softball team Panic, comprised of players from Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, finished one game away from qualifying for the state tournament in Sacramento.

The Panic went 3-2 in a recent Amateur Softball Assn. C qualifier tournament for Central Orange County, eventually falling to Fountain Valley.

Coach Brian Marshall said it’s the farthest a team from the Pacific Coast League has ever advanced.

Brookie Migliori pitched 21 innings to help keep the Panic in every game, and Hattie Marshall also helped with pitching.

Delaney Owen, Lindsey Susolik, Cassie Stratton, Nikki Perrier, Marshall, Kourtney Chadderon and Migliori paced the offense.

Deanna Byers, Katie Draffin and Saylor Schroff held the other teams down with excellent defense.

TAE KWON DO

Alexandra Henderson and Alexandra Brinkman, both of whom attend Carden Hall School in Newport Beach and represent AJK’s Tae Kwon Do in Huntington Beach, competed in the 26th Junior Olympics at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta from July 6 -- 9 in forms in the red belt division, for ages 10 and 11.

Henderson finished eighth in her weight class and Brinkman finished 11th in a competition that featured more than 3,000 competitors from across the country.

Brinkman and Henderson, as well as four other competitors from AJK’s, qualified for the event at a competition at the Anaheim Convention Center on Aprill 22 and 23. Brinkman and Henderson each finished second in forms at the event.dpt.15-youth-swim-boys-BPhotoInfoQU1SVBBV20060715j2f52sncCredit: PHOTOS COURTESY OF MARTIN KLEIN Caption: (LA)The Newport Hills girls’ breaststroke relay is, from left, Isabella Gerken, Ashley Humphreys, Lauren Openshaw and Leah Givant. dpt.15-youth-swim-girls-BPhotoInfoQU1SVBBQ20060715j2f53fncCredit: Caption: (LA)Five event winners from the Newport Hills swim team at the SCSC relay finals were, from left, 6-and-under swimmers Henry Wilde, Jack Bendetti, Grayson Wueste, Will Klein and Morgan Cortens.