The Columbia-bound Namba has been on the CIF-winning medley relay teams each of the last three years. In Namba's freshman year of 2009, CdM got second at the Division 1 finals to Back Bay rival Newport Harbor.
"It's really cool," Namba said. "I mean, I've been waiting four years and finally we pulled it together, which is exciting."
The Sea Kings certainly did. Namba, Lin and Garkani also all swim club for the Irvine AquaZots. At CIF finals, Namba swam the opening backstroke leg of the medley in a 23.36. It was the second-fastest in the championship heat.
Lin also stepped up. In December, Lin and three of his teammates broke the national 13-14 age group record in the medley relay. At the CIF finals, Lin swam a 26.83 split. It was more than a half-second better than his 27.36 in preliminaries, when CdM qualified first in 1:34.15.
"A lot of pressure," Lin said. "I knew I had to go a lot faster than I went in prelims."
Last year, Garkani said he was put on the winning medley relay at the last second. The Sea Kings had to scramble as then-senior John Kim was injured. This year, Garkani swam his leg in a swift 22.25, the second-fastest in the finals heat.
"I wasn't really thinking about the record," said Garkani, who had to leave the competition area quickly at Riverside City College to prepare for the 200 freestyle, in which he got second place. "[Breaking the record] kind of surprised me, so to be a part of that is pretty cool. Hopefully it won't get broken for a while."
Then you have Motal, the only non-club swimmer in the quartet. Motal is a water polo attacker who helped CdM reach the CIF Southern Section Division 2 title match last fall.
