LONG BEACH — Long Beach Wilson started a new Moore League championship streak in boys swimming Friday night at Cabrillo High School.
The Bruins posted six first-place finishes out of 10 events to capture their second consecutive league title.
Long Beach Poly, Millikan, Jordan, Lakewood and Cabrillo rounded out the order of finish.
Wilson, though, had a comfortable 135-point lead heading into the 400-yard freestyle relay that it won to cap the collective performance.
It marked the school’s first consecutive league titles since Poly snapped a 49-year streak in 2023.
Third-year coach Brandon D’Sa said the loss two years ago “kind of lit a fire under us.”
“It’s because of these guys at these other schools that we end up achieving what we’re able to achieve because it pushes us and makes us want it more,” D’Sa said.
The Bruins had four individual winners, including a pair of 1-2 finishes. Keegan Abing, Kai Bramble, Noah Smith and Elijah Vince each recorded victories.
Abing turned in a dominant performance in the 500 free, finishing with a time of 4:42.19. No other swimmer broke the 5-minute mark.
Teammate Gabriel Robles was the next fastest finisher, more than 28 seconds later.
Vince pulled off a strong comeback to capture the 200 individual medley in a thrilling finish that separated first and third place by just 1.43 seconds.
Millikan junior Noah Martinez had the early lead before Poly senior Mordox Sar briefly pulled ahead.
In Lane 2, Vince started to close the gap in the breaststroke leg of the race. Vince said it was “a big turning point” because it’s been his weakest of the four strokes all season.
“I’m a senior, last time I’ll swim in Moore League,” Vince said. “I just left every little ounce I had left. … I was on the outside, maybe they didn’t know where I was, but I think I had the edge. Just gave it all I had in that last lap, and I’m mainly a freestyle swimmer, too, so I feel like that gave me a little bit of an edge, as well.”
In the 100 free, Bramble clocked in at 47.60 seconds and edged Vince by 0.11 seconds for the tightest 1-2 finish of the meet.
Smith won the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.77.
Wilson also had the top time in the 200 free relay (1:27.90) and 400 free relay (3:09.99). Freshman Aidan Conrey joined Bramble and Vince on both relay teams, while junior Jesse Knight swam in the 200 and Abing took part in the 400.
The 400 relay team qualified for CIF Southern Section Division 1 prelims, including Abing earning a consideration time for the 100 free in his leg, D’Sa said.
“These guys swam lights out tonight,” D’Sa added.
Sar and junior Lucas Jue combined to win three races and lead Poly to second place.
Sar claimed the 100 butterfly in 52.73 seconds.
Jue set a meet record in the 100 backstroke (48.31 seconds) and a meet and league record in the 200 free (1:38.21).
“It was definitely in my sights,” Jue said after breaking the 200 free records. “For the 200, you’ve got to hit every turn, every underwater. You definitely want to pinpoint that to get a good swim.”
Jue and Sar, along with seniors Gael Cruz and Kyle Oatey, also beat out Wilson in the 200 medley relay (1:35.61).
Jackrabbits coach Ishmael Pluton said he was proud of his team’s effort as it turns the attention to CIF.
“On top of that, getting some league records, school records, meet records — that’s the icing on the cake,” Pluton said. “That’s super cool, especially for Mordox, as a senior, winning his 100 fly.
“What’s exciting is our boys came up to us, our medley relay (team), they come up to us coaches and they go, ‘I think we can go faster, coach.’ I was, like, perfect, we’re going to get another chance to swim it at CIF so let’s go even faster.”
Martinez had a pair of individual second-place finishes to power Millikan in the 200 IM and 100 fly.
The Rams’ best relay performance was a second-place finish from seniors Zain Dahdul, Alexander McCance, Lucas Smith and Aiden Xavier, who finished the 200 freestyle in 1:31.30.
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