Skyline Eagles take Region 2 title, move on to state

Aside from trying to get more kids qualified for state, Skyline's mantra at the Region 2 championships was quite similar to that of previous meets this season.

"Win the meet and move on," coach Joe Pereira said simply.

That's exactly what happened.

Though they didn't put up fast times at the Region 2 meet, held last Saturday at the Fairmont Aquatic Center, it was nonetheless an OK outing for the Eagles. Skyline won both team competitions comfortably, defeating Brighton 418 points to 284 on the boys side and 418-352 on the girls side.

The important thing is the Eagles feel like they're where they should be on the eve of the 5A state meet, which will be held next weekend at BYU.

"We swam real flat (at region). You could just tell that we weren't very sharp at all," said Pereira. "The kids that were (swimming sharp) were the kids that were going for fifth or sixth place. A lot of the JV kids (were going fast) at the beginning of the meet, and then it just kind of slid as they're watching the varsity, the leaders, give everything they have and not go very fast.

"But," Pereira importantly added, "that's where we need to be...The saying goes, 'The worse you feel at region, the better you feel at state.'"

As Skyline meets normally go, senior Sara Nicponski anchored the Eagles. She won both individual events easily — the 200-yard IM and 100 breast — and, considering she didn't rest at all in the days leading up to the meet, she swam fairly well.

Nicponski, a UC Santa Barbara-signee, went 1 minute and 03.58 seconds in the 100 breast, which puts her in position to shatter her own state record of 1:04.07.

"I wanted to go a two (at region)," she said. "My coach had me at a 1:02, but he said I had a soft touch, so I guess that's OK."

Nicponski will be the leading candidate to win 5A girls Swimmer of the Meet next weekend.

Marnie Knoop (100 back and 100 fly) and Kristina Evans (50 free and 100 free) each added a pair of individual wins for the Eagles.

The fact that Skyline's girls squad only beat Brighton by 66 points was somewhat surprising, but when you consider that the Eagles didn't swim particularly fast, it wasn't shocking.

"I knew Brighton would be real tough, and they are," said Pereira. "If you just scored out the meet with everybody where they're seeded, we're supposed to destroy them. And they made a meet of it."