HIGH SCHOOL SWIMMING NOTEBOOK: AREA WILL HAVE A BIG PRESENCE AT PRELIMS.

Byline: ERIK BOAL Special to the Daily News

When Mark Thibault and Mike Timperio swam at Palmdale High, they were accustomed to competing at the Southern Section prelims and finals at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

So, after representing the Falcons in three championship meets in the early 1990s, Thibault received a shock to the system when he joined the Quartz Hill coaching staff seven years ago.

``I was told there was nobody from the (Antelope Valley) at CIF the year before,'' Thibault said. ``To me, that was unacceptable.''

For longtime friends Thibault and Timperio -- a four-year qualifier during his high school career, who now coaches at Highland -- that shouldn't be a problem anytime in the near future.

Following Wednesday's Golden League championship meet at Eastside Pool, the Antelope Valley will have its largest representation in the six-year history of Southern Section Div. IV at Tuesday's prelims at Belmont Plaza. And the majority of the swimmers who are making the trip are underclassmen.

``I knew we had to take care of Quartz Hill first, but we had to grow this thing into something the whole community could rally around and be a part of,'' Thibault said. ``It culminated last week (with the Quartz Hill-Highland dual meet). Eventually we're going to get to a point where it's like that all the time. That's what we work for.''

Quartz Hill has the most big-meet experience among the schools who qualified, with Daniel Colvin, Evan Lopez and Dan Tran returning to Belmont for the Rebels' boys' team. Nellie Rodriguez and Alyssa Wilson have qualified again for Quartz Hill's girls and will be joined a strong contingent that features freshmen Brittany Blankenship and Lauren Hughes.

Highland could be in position to make the biggest splash among the Golden League teams, especially with junior Billy Bishop in the boys' 50-yard freestyle and the quartet of Ashley Cecil, Marissa Cecil, Sarah Pino and Jenna Poitras in the girls' 400 free relay, as well as several individual events.

Palmdale freshman Mary Brown will compete in the 50 free and 100 butterfly, two events in which she set school records -- the 200 individual medley being a third -- during an undefeated regular season.

``I think the kids are excited to go down there and race against those (top) schools,'' Thibault said. ``It's hard to predict what's going to happen. You never know until the psych sheets come out.''

Good day for Knight: Brown, Ashley Cecil, Pino, Bishop, Lopez and Tran were all multiple-event winners at Wednesday's championship meet, but the most impressive performance might have come from Knight junior Tommy Martinez.

A first-year swimmer, Martinez dropped more than 14 seconds off his entry time to win the 500 free in 5:53.35, defeating Quartz Hill's Kyle Stambaugh (5:53.72) in the closest race of the meet.

``You don't usually consider the 500 to be an exciting race, but that's one of the more exciting 500s you're going to see,'' said Knight coach Tammie Furman, whose boys' and girls' teams had their best showings at the championship meet.

``Before the race, he asked me if I thought he could finish third. But he hung in there the entire time and he had enough left in the end to win it. He's worked hard all season, so this is great for him.''

Martinez also finished fourth in the 200 free and anchored the Hawks' 400 free relay team, which took second. Ben Leyton took third in the 100 butterfly and 200 individual medley and Bryon Lacelle finished third in the 100 free for Knight.

``What they did was just come out on their own and find a way to do it,'' Furman said. ``It seemed like we had someone in the top 10 in almost every race.''

Xhamira Delgado was fourth in the 200 free and fifth in the 100 backstroke and Amber Mowry placed fifth in the 100 breaststroke and seventh in the 100 free for Knight.

erik.boal(at)dailynews.com

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