SWIMMING NOTEBOOK: HART JUGGLES POOL, PROM.

Byline: Ross Siler Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - No event on the high school swimming calendar is longer each year than the annual Royal Invitational in Simi Valley, which begins at 9 a.m. today and ends about one minute before sunset without fail.

Now imagine trying to schedule prom around it, remembering that chlorine and corsages are two things that don't go together.

That's the dilemma facing the Hart High swim team this weekend. The Indians, whose boys won the team title last year over Rio Mesa of Oxnard, will return to Royal, but most of their seniors and juniors will depart in the early afternoon.

As a result, heats for the 200-yard freestyle and 200 individual medley, both contested in the morning, will be loaded with Hart swimmers.

``We'll just kind of swim and see what happens,'' said senior Kent Klawer, the defending champion at Royal in the 500 freestyle, ``and leave.''

Added junior Hayley Calams, coincidentally Klawer's prom date: ``It's nice, but we don't get to do all the team-bonding things we usually do there, just hanging out and chilling.''

Hart coach Steve Neale left it up to his swimmers if they wanted to compete at Royal or skip it. The meet is being held about three weeks later than last year because of conflicts with spring-break schedules and SAT testing.

Saugus does not attend the invitational, and Valencia coach Kathleen Perdisatt decided not to take her team this year, either. There were too many conflicts between prom and studying for advanced-placement tests, Perdisatt said.

But several Hart swimmers said it was worth it to wake up at dawn the morning of prom to swim at Royal. The longest day in swimming won't end until sunrise Sunday for some of them.

``Royal's such a fun meet for me,'' said senior Shannon McCarthy, who swims with the Conejo Simi Aquatics club team. ``I know all the Royal kids and it's fun to see them.''

Neale said the meet will be a good opportunity for his junior varsity swimmers, with three-quarters of the varsity graduating this year. No matter what, though, Neale will be at Royal until the end and the 400 freestyle relay.

``I don't have to go to prom,'' he said.

Injury woes: Two of Hart's top boys are nursing injuries. Klawer has been bothered by tendinitis in his left knee that has left him struggling to swim breaststroke. He hopes to be back at full strength by the Foothill League championships May 6.

Goran Bistric injured his shoulder swimming freestyle last Friday against Crescenta Valley of La Crescenta and did not swim against Valencia on Wednesday. Neale said Bistric might not be available again until the section championships.

Clean sweep: Canyon coach Debi Broker has an interesting plan for sophomore Roxy Camuso. Broker's goal is to have Camuso notch either an automatic or consideration time to the section championships in all eight individual events.

Camuso will swim the 100 and 200 freestyle next month in Long Beach, but Broker said she ``just wanted to see if she could do it.'' Camuso swam the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke Wednesday against Burbank and will swim the 100 butterfly next week. No one has ever accomplished such a feat in school history.

Broker's goal is to have Camuso finish in the top two in both her events at Royal. Camuso also would like to advance out of preliminaries at the section championships, something she was unable to do last year.

The number of swimmers is down at Canyon this year, from 80 to 68, but Justin Wellins, Katherine Eng and Christine Aiken all have had good seasons. And Camuso said the freshmen in the program have been welcome additions.

``They're more up to do practice and more motivated,'' she said.

Gannon gaining: Hart junior Matt Gannon normally is a backstroke and individual medley specialist. But he has been swimming the 200 freestyle the past two meets, winning in 1 minute, 50.01 seconds Wednesday against Valencia.

Gannon would need to drop another 1 1/2 seconds to qualify in the event for the section championships. He has not ruled out the possibility of swimming the 200 freestyle at the meet.

Gannon also said he has enjoyed swimming the 200 individual medley, even with Klawer taking up the top lane in the event his entire Hart career.

``It's not too bad,'' Gannon said. ``He's a great person to race against in practice. He keeps me moving, keeps me getting faster.''

Ross Siler, [phone]

ross.siler(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Hart senior Kent Klawer is the defending 500 freestyle champion at the Royal Invitational.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News