San Pedro and Granada Hills win City Section swimming championships

There is a saying that the star closes the show, and that is what San Pedro did in defending its City Section boys’ swimming championship Saturday afternoon at L.A. Valley College.

The Pirates built a healthy lead in the first three legs of the 400-yard freestyle relay, and Nick Jones widened the gap on the anchor leg to clinch his team’s victory. The senior also anchored the Pirates’ winning 200 medley relay to open the meet and won the 500 freestyle in 4 minutes 48.49 seconds. Teammate William Hatch won the 200 freestyle in 1:45.74 as San Pedro racked up 358 points — 18 more than Palisades.

Kenneth Devis of Eagle Rock edged Jones to win the 100 butterfly in 50 seconds flat, then broke the City record in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 55.90 seconds. Dominic Vargas of third-place Granada Hills was first in the 50 freestyle (21.30) and 100 freestyle (47.23).

The girls’ team title came down to the last event. Granada Hills’ Lauryn Cho, Breanna Navarro, Elaina Brier and Rylie Oh took first place in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:45.24, and that was enough to push the Highlanders to their first section crown since they won six in a row from 1995 to 2000. They did not win an individual event but took two of the three relays to finish with 326 points — seven ahead of runner-up Palisades, which was denied its 12th consecutive title.

Garfield sophomore Kelia Naranjo won the 50 freestyle (25.02) and 100 freestyle (53.94), and Claire Wu of Taft won the 200 individual medley (2:09.14) and 100 breaststroke (1:06.50) and swam the first leg on the Toreadors’ winning 200 freestyle relay.

Boys’ volleyball

Corona del Mar def. Loyola 3-1: Corona del Mar earned a spot in next Saturday’s Division 1 championship match at Cerritos College by stunning the No. 1-seeded Cubs. Corona del Mar won the first two sets 25-23, 27-25, Loyola took the third 25-16, and Corona del Mar pulled out the fourth 25-22.

Corona del Mar will face No. 2-seeded Newport Harbor in the Division 1 final Saturday night at Cerritos College. Newport Harbor defeated Mira Costa 3-1.

Girls’ beach volleyball

Mira Costa won the first Southern Section Division 1 beach volleyball championship, defeating Redondo Union in the final. Charlie Fuerbringer, Erin Inskeep, Brooke Balue and Giselle Lau were key contributors for the Mustangs, who are 149-0 in team competitions.

Crean Luthern won the Division 2 championship.

Baseball

Castaic 6, Oxford 0: Joji Sakata hit a grand slam and Tyler Hawn threw a complete game in Castaic’s playoff victory.

Track and field

Highlights from Southern Section preliminaries:

In Division 1, hurdler Davis Davis-Lyric finished in 14.03 seconds in the 110 highs. Kaylin Edwards of Long Beach Wilson was first in the 100 hurdles girls’ race at 14.20. Xai Ricks of Long Beach Poly ran a wind-aided 21.10 in the 200.

In Division 2, Allura Markow of Dana Hills had the fastest 1,600-meter time at 4 minutes 57.05 seconds, with Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura right behind.

In Division 3, Roman Mendoza of Santa Margarita had the fastest time in the 300 hurdles at 37.68. Lidia Major of Santa Margarita was No. 1 in the girls’ 300 hurdles in 44.07.

In Division 4, Rodrick Pleasant of Gardena ran a wind-aided time of 10.40 seconds in the 100 meters at Carpinteria in preparation for the section finals and Masters Meet scheduled over the next two weeks at Moorpark High, where he ran his state-record time of 10.14 last year. He also ran 20.89 in the 200. Teammate Brazil Neal qualified first in the girls’ 100 in 11.75.

Freelancer Steve Galluzzo contributed to this roundup.