Corona Del

His nickname could be "Aqua Lung." His slogan could be: Banker by day, world-class swimmer by night. He is Richard Saeger, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist who has recently delved, or dived, back into the pool, breaking records all over again. Saeger, 41, who regularly trains at Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar High school pools, is fresh off a world-record performance in the 100-meter freestyle in the 40-44 age division at the Mission Viejo Masters Meet July 3. An Irvine resident since 1999, Saeger got back into competitive swimming in 2000 after taking a 14-year hiatus to focus on his career -- banking, basically.

All 6,000 pounds of the green and bronze Centennial Time Clock hovered over the asphalt as workers readied the 24-foot clock tower to be lowered into its home at the future site of Centennial Plaza. A small audience drawn largely from the Corona del Mar Centennial Foundation's ranks looked on from a parking lot near the corner of East Coast Highway and Marguerite Avenue as a work crew under the supervision of contractor Paul Keohane strapped the clock tower to a crane, lifted it from a flatbed truck and turned the tower upright.

The Corona del Mar High girls tennis team looked dominant coming into the season, and it still could be. But the Sea Kings, who captured their eighth consecutive Pacific Coast League title and reached the CIF Southern Section Division I semifinals last year, will try to win without No. 1 singles player Jill Damion -- at least for a while. The junior phenom tried to play through a sore shoulder this summer, but an MRI about a month ago detected a slight tear in the rotator cuff of her right shoulder.

The Corona del Mar High girls cross country team, with all five runners finishing in the top 20, took first place at the Clovis invitational at Woodward Park in Fresno Saturday. In the process, the Sea Kings set a course record, clocking in with a time of 91 minutes, 21 seconds, smashing Sultana's 2002 mark of 91:53. "I was shocked when I found out we broke the course record, because I know the history of this course -- we've been here for the state championships 18 years in a row," Corona del Mar Coach Bill Sumner said.

Corona del Mar High outshot Newport Harbor, 224-284, in a nonleague match Tuesday at Newport Beach Country club. The Sea Kings were paced by medalist Katie McKitterick with a 3-under 38. Courtney Wright shot 43. Jonna Kim and Jessica Milner shot 47 and Kelly Kwata finished up with a 49. Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor will match up again Thursday at Big Canyon Country Club at 3 p.m. Sailors improve to 6-0 ...

Before his team's game against Long Beach Wilson High Tuesday night, Corona del Mar Coach Barry O'Dea joked about how Wilson was probably mad after losing to Newport Harbor. Indeed, the surprise trouncing the Newport Harbor boys water polo team administered last week got Long Beach Wilson attention. It's no wonder the defending CIF champion Bruins turned things up a notch in ensuing practices and came out Tuesday night on fire. Wilson took out its frustrations on Corona del Mar High, swimming to a 16-9 nonleague victory at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach.

o7The following schools made the largest gains this year in the percentage of students scoring as proficient or advanced on standardized tests. f7 SCHOOL GRADE 2003-04 2004-05 INCREASE ENGLISH Paularino Elementary 2 30% 62% 32% Killybrooke Elementary 5 26% 54% 28% Andersen Elementary 2 63% 87% 24% Eastbluff Elementary 2 64% 84% 20% Newport Coast Elementary 3 51% 70% 19% TeWinkle Middle School 6 25% 37% 12% Corona del Mar High School 11 48% 70% 22% Corona del Mar High School 8 56% 70% 14% Costa Mesa High School 8 27% 47% 20% MATHEMATICS Killybrooke Elementary 5 14% 46% 32% Mariners Elementary 5 62% 87% 25% Victoria Elementary 3 40% 63% 23% Ada Middle School 4 27% 48% 21% Wilson Elementary 3 34% 54% 20% Pomona Elementary 3 15% 34% 19% Eastbluff Elementary 2 75% 94% 19% Eastbluff Elementary 5 60% 78% 18% Kaiser Elementary 5 36% 54% 18% TeWinkle Middle School 6 19% 31% 12%

Some of the Southland’s top prep girls’ volleyball teams will play at five county sites beginning Friday as the 2007 Dave Mohs Tournament begins. Hosted by Edison High, matches will be played at Edison, Newport Harbor, Corona del Mar, Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa. In addition to Edison, Huntington Beach is the other local school competing in the tournament. Tournament action begins with pool play at 3:30 p.m. Friday, continues with more pool play at 8 a.m. Saturday and concludes with division championship matches on Monday.

If the Corona del Mar High football team is going to capture the Pacific Coast League title, it's going to do it with a dominant, play-making defense. Corona del Mar's league opener Friday night was a good start. The Sea King defense intercepted four passes, picked up three fumbles and scored three touchdowns in a 40-0 victory over Calvary Chapel at Newport Harbor High. The Sea King defense took over the game in the third quarter, coming up with turnovers on each Eagle possession.

The Estancia High girls volleyball team opened the season on the right foot, defeating host Irvine, 25-16, 25-17, 21-25, 25-16, in a nonleague match on Thursday night. Jaye Hellmich led the way with 10 kills and five blocks. Taylor Brown tallied seven kills and Stacie Watson added four aces for the Eagles (1-0). Corona del Mar rolls TENNIS: The Corona del Mar High girls tennis team opened its season with a 14-4 victory over visiting Mater Dei on Thursday afternoon in a nonleague match.

Huntington Beach Coach Eric Lo said during the preseason that the first three games of the season would tell him a lot about his 2011 football team. Games against El Toro, Corona del Mar and Foothill, two of whom were rivals when the Oilers belonged to the Sea View League, figured to test Huntington right out of the gate. Lo did learn something last Friday at Cap Sheue Field: his team can win the close one. Huntington never trailed against El Toro, but the Oilers had to withstand a barrage of passes - 55 of them from Chargers quarterback Conner Manning - and a late comeback attempt to post a 23-21 season-opening victory.

HUNTINGTON BEACH — No one could top the Huntington Beach High boys’ volleyball team all weekend in the Orange County Championships. It was a close match, but the same was true Monday night, too. Huntington Beach rallied to top CdM, 18-25, 25-17, 15-12, in the Division I final at Edison High. The Oilers, ranked No. 3 in the CIF Southern Section Division I coaches’ poll, went undefeated in six tournament matches. No. 4 Corona del Mar, meanwhile, lost its first two pool-play matches Friday — one to the Oilers — and qualified for the quarterfinals via a tiebreaker.

Struggling a bit in the Sunset League, the Fountain Valley High baseball team has found Spring Break much more enjoyable on the baseball field. The Barons advanced to the championship game of the Beach Pit Classic tournament, holding off host Corona del Mar, 9-8, in the semifinals Tuesday. Fountain Valley (7-7) played Newport Harbor (6-8) in the title game Wednesday, after press time. Look for a story on the game online at www.hbindependent.com . “It’s a great tournament,” Barons Coach Joe MacDonald said.

Some of the Southland’s top prep girls’ volleyball teams will play at five county sites beginning Friday as the 2007 Dave Mohs Tournament begins. Hosted by Edison High, matches will be played at Edison, Newport Harbor, Corona del Mar, Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa. In addition to Edison, Huntington Beach is the other local school competing in the tournament. Tournament action begins with pool play at 3:30 p.m. Friday, continues with more pool play at 8 a.m. Saturday and concludes with division championship matches on Monday.

CORONA DEL MAR — It's hard out here for a pelican. After a June 22 collision with a car windshield in Laguna Beach, a now-recovered California brown pelican nicknamed "Crash" recently was released at the water's edge in Corona del Mar State Beach. Workers from Huntington Beach's Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center, which nursed the young female bird back to health, also released 10 other pelicans that had been victims of fishing lines and hooks or starvation. Crash may have hit the car because she'd been poisoned by domoic acid, a substance produced by red tide algae that is eaten by fish, which are then eaten by birds.

CORONA DEL MAR ? It's hard out here for a pelican. After a June 22 collision with a car windshield in Laguna Beach, a now-recovered California brown pelican nicknamed "Crash" recently was released at the water's edge in Corona del Mar State Beach. Workers from Huntington Beach's Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center, which nursed the young female bird back to health, also released 10 other pelicans that had been victims of fishing lines and hooks or starvation. Crash may have hit the car because she'd been poisoned by domoic acid, a substance produced by red tide algae that is eaten by fish, which are then eaten by birds.

The Corona del Mar High girls cross country team was recently ranked No. 1 in the nation in the Nike/Footlocker Super 25 high school poll. The Sea Kings, ranked No. 1 in CIF Southern Section Division III, garnered much attention when they finished first at the Clovis invitational Oct. 8, setting a course record at Fresno's Woodward Park, the same site as the state championships. Senior Annie St. Geme, who finished second overall in Fresno, headlines the squad, which is also heavily benefiting from sophomore Shelby Buckley this season.

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The Corona del Mar High girls cross country team, with all five runners finishing in the top 20, took first place at the Clovis invitational at Woodward Park in Fresno Saturday. In the process, the Sea Kings set a course record, clocking in with a time of 91 minutes, 21 seconds, smashing Sultana's 2002 mark of 91:53. "I was shocked when I found out we broke the course record, because I know the history of this course -- we've been here for the state championships 18 years in a row," Corona del Mar Coach Bill Sumner said.

SOCCER Region 120 Boys under 16 Costa Mesa 4, South Irvine 0: Juan Becerra scored two goals. Defenders Matt Kirchberg, Luu Nguyen and Jacob Hurd were hard to stop and hard to score on. AYSO Region 57 Girls under 16 Corona del Mar 2, Costa Mesa Code Blue 0: Corona del Mar remained undefeated, beating host Blue Code in a competitive match. Bayley Sprowls scored in the midst of traffic. In the second half, the defensive play by Taylor Rhodes, Chelsea Giger, Ariana Condon and Alix Condon led the way. Julie Kramer scored the final goal of the game with an assist from Breezy Brewster.