SWIMMING: SWIM PASADENA CLIMBS TO FOURTH SUN, VANDENBERGE IMPRESS AGAIN.

Byline: Erik Boal Special to the Daily News

IRVINE - Sara Sun and Samantha VandenBerge remember the somewhat lonely feeling of competing at last year's National Club Swimming Association Junior National Championships in Palo Alto, when they alone were responsible for Swim Pasadena's 10th-place finish among 70 women's teams.

As the U.S. Junior National team members prepared for this year's Speedo Junior National Championships, they hoped Bianca Marquez, Natasha Nguyen and Ann Tsuchiya could perform well enough in the relay events to give Swim Pasadena the opportunity to become a contender for the women's team title.

For the second consecutive night at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatic Complex, Sun and VandenBerge saw their wishes become reality.

After a fifth-place finish Wednesday in the 200-meter freestyle relay, Swim Pasadena was fourth in Thursday night's 800 free relay, in 8 minutes, 32.77 seconds, moving them into fourth place in the team standings (122 points) with two days remaining.

``It's overwhelming in a way, but it's a great feeling,'' said the 16-year-old Sun, a junior at Crescenta Valley High of La Crescenta. ``Sam and I set a goal last year to come down here with a relay team, and now we've been (on the podium) for two.''

Swim Pasadena's relay performance capped a 57-point day - the most among women's teams Thursday - but it wasn't the only cause for celebration.

Sun became one of four girls to record three top-10 finishes in as many days with her seventh-place showing in the 200 free (2:05.65). Elizabeth Beisel of Magnus Aquatic Group (Maryland) Whitney Lopus of Sun Devil Aquatics (Arizona) and Katherine Raatz of Arizona Desert Fox are the others to do so.

Sun, the reigning Daily News Girls' Swimmer of the Year, finished fifth Tuesday in the 800 free and 10th Wednesday in the 100 free.

Sun's success was overshadowed by VandenBerge's lifetime-best effort in the 400 individual medley. VandenBerge, a 16-year-old junior at La Serna of Whittier, dropped more than five seconds from her previous best time to finish fourth in 4:56.98.

``I was in shock,'' she said. ``I haven't really dropped time in this event in a year, and I haven't made the top eight, so I just I wanted to go out there and see what I could get.''

VandenBerge, who also competed on the relay with Sun, Tsuchiya (Mayfield of Pasadena) and Nguyen (La Canada), was seventh at the midway point, moved into sixth on the breaststroke leg and passed two more swimmers on the freestyle leg.

Swim Pasadena's efforts highlighted a strong day for Southern California swimmers, which included a 21st-place finish by Conejo Simi Aquatics - Emily Bibb and Laura DeCesare (La Reina of Thousand Oaks), Camille Duckett (Thousand Oaks) and Alex Sullivan (Newbury Park) - in the 800 free relay (8:49.16).

Erik Boal, [phone]

erik.boal(at)dailynews.com