Jeff Tully
Just few years ago, the Burbank High boys' swim team was considered a
pushover in the Foothill League.
With little depth, limited interest and a revolving group of
coaches, the Bulldogs didn't pose much of a threat for their league
counterparts.
However, the past two seasons, Burbank has enjoyed a revival, and
the team is forcing its opponents to take it seriously.
For the second straight year, the Bulldog boys' team finished its
dual-meet league schedule with a second-place finish. Burbank
accomplished the feat Wednesday with an 89-81 league win against
Saugus at Burroughs High.
Unfortunately for the Bulldog girls' team, it didn't fare as well,
as they fell to a powerful Centurion squad, 127-40.
The Bulldog boys finished behind only Hart, which was also the
regular-season champion last season.
"Winning this meet is very important to us," Burbank senior Eric
Davis said. "It also means a lot to me to be able to say we finished
in second place in league my senior year. That is a nice
accomplishment."
Burbank has been able to enjoy its current upswing under the
guidance of Coach Adam Wright. Wright -- who came to the program from
Hart High -- has helped his swimmers improve and reach their
potential.
And his efforts haven't been lost on the Bulldog swimmers.
"Adam has brought the world to this program," Davis said. "Our
coaches this year, not only in swimming, but in all of our aquatics
coaches, have been just awesome. They have all done such a great job
this season.
"Someone like Adam brings so much knowledge to the program, and
the program has gone up so much in the last two years.
"We actually now have a strong program that is going to build for
years to come."
And Burbank has done it all without a home pool, after its
facility was damaged following the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. The
Bulldogs' new state-of-the- art campus pool is scheduled to be
completed by August.
Burbank's win against Saugus was due largely to the efforts of
Davis, who won one individual event, placed second in another and
helped the Bulldogs finish second in two relays. All four efforts met
CIF Southern Section Division I consideration standards.
Davis won 100-yard freestyle in 49.76 seconds, was second in the
200 freestyle in 1:51.77, teamed up with Aram Simonian, Soo Ho Park
and Julian Miranda to go 1:35.71 in the 200 freestyle relay and swam
with Simonian, Miranda and Armen Assadourian to go 3:28.29 in the 400
freestyle relay.
Despite winning just four events, the Bulldogs' depth paid off, as
their swimmers had just four fifth-place marks and one sixth (only
the top five score in a race). They also placed no worse than third
in all three relays.
Simonian was a winner in the 500 freestyle (5:15.68), Edgar
Gasparyan was first in the 100 breaststroke (1:12.85) and the two
teamed up with Miko Lave and David Nelson to win the 200 medley relay
(1:53.13).
In the girls' competition, Burbank (0-5 in league) squared off
against the best team in league, as Saugus defeated favorite Hart
earlier in the season.
Burbank -- which had no first-place finishes -- was paced by Stacy
Hishinuma and Jenny Austin, who had top-three finishes in two events.
Hishinuma was second in the 100 backstroke (1:09.76) and third in
the 200 freestyle (2:11.80) and Austin placed second in the 50
freestyle (27.67) and third in the 100 freestyle.
Teammate Catalina Casas swam to a second-place finish in the 100
butterfly (1:08.32).
