Hard times for Newport

HUNTINGTON BEACH — A day before their biggest meet of the season so far, members of the Newport Harbor High boys' swim team received some startling news.

The Sailors would be without their coach, Jason Lynch. The school's principal Michael Vossen said Monday that Lynch would not be coaching the team, effective immediately, for unspecified reasons.

Assistant coach Corey Delahunt told the team the news after school Monday. The mood was somber.

"We tried to get in [the water] for a little bit but we couldn't really do much," senior Andrew Duhoux said.

A day later, Edison made sure the Sailors again didn't get much going. The host Chargers started strong and won the key Sunset League meet by a comfortable margin, 97.5-72.5.

Edison's girls had an even easier time in posting a 116-53 victory.

Delahunt, who played water polo for Lynch at Costa Mesa High, was the boys' coach for Newport Harbor in Tuesday's meet. He kept busy while watching the Sailors boys' varsity, junior varsity and open division teams compete.

"It probably would have been better if they had planned for someone to take over for [Lynch], and they didn't," Duhoux said. "[We were] kind of left coach-less. It's hard for [Delahunt] to deal with three levels of teams and stay focused on all of them. He does the best he can, and we all respect him for that, but for 60 or however many guys we have you kind of need at least two coaches.

"But he did what he could do. It really just came down to us not performing."

Delahunt said he didn't know the reason why Lynch isn't currently coaching or when he might return. He said the school plans to bring in another coach to help out. But in the meantime, he watched the three-time defending league champion Sailors (3-1 in league) lose their first league meet to the Chargers (3-0).

Newport Harbor did win the meet-opening 200-yard medley relay. Curtis Fink, Ryan Fowler, Ian Baugh and Duhoux out-touched the Chargers' quartet to finish in 1 minute, 44.85 seconds. The Sailors' "B" relay (Sean Richards, Miles Mendoza, Koby Yokota and Garrett Keillor) placed third, so the Sailors had a 10-4 edge.

It was erased quickly in the next event, the 200 freestyle won by Edison junior Michael Hauss. Newport's Tom Fisher finished second in 1:46.37 but Edison also took third and fourth place. They also got first and third in the 200 individual medley won by Josh Smith.