Lapping the competition

They are good friends, maybe not what you’d expect from the top swimmers for the Edison and Fountain Valley high girls’ swimming teams.

The Chargers and Barons are supposed to be rivals. Ever hear of the Battle for the Bell?

Swimmers, though, just might have this connection. It comes partially from swimming hours and hours, lap after lap, the sets adding up every single day. Outsiders might not understand how Edison senior Cindy Tran and Fountain Valley senior Cynthia Fascella can last in a sport that, Fascella admitted, can seem a bit “boring.”

But Tran and Fascella definitely aren’t that. They’re anything but that as they glide through the water, on their way to fast times.

They are quite possibly the top two female prep swimmers in Orange County. Tran is headed to Cal, Fascella to UCLA. And, yes, they are good friends, which is interesting because the Chargers and Barons face off in their annual dual meet Tuesday at Edison.

“We’re supposed to be rivals...” Fascella said.

She didn’t get a chance to continue as Tran cut her off, not allowed in swimming as you have to stay in your lane.

“We are rivals, actually,” Tran said. “But it’s a friendly competition. This probably sounds really bad, but I still cheer for them as a friend. I root for my team, obviously, but I still hope for them to get good times.”

That part’s never an issue. Fascella has been dominating the individual freestyle events for three years now. She’s a two-time CIF Southern Section Division I champion in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100 free. Tran has actually won the 100 back all three of her years at Edison, and last year she added the 100 butterfly.

In club swimming for Golden West Swim Club, as teammates, they have accomplished even more under Coach Bob Gillett. They competed at the National Club Swimming Assn. Junior Nationals in Florida last month under the umbrella club team of the West Coast Swimming Club. Tran and Fascella, along with Edison junior Alli Gillespie and Fountain Valley junior Shelby Webber, won the 400 free relay. Tran was also an individual winner in the 200 back in a swift 1:56.6, qualifying her to compete for a national all-star team that is headed to the long-course Irish championships at the end of the month.

Initially, Tran was told by CIF Southern Section officials that she couldn’t do an attached club event during high school season. The Chargers have spent the early part of this week attempting to appeal that decision.

“I don’t want to have to choose,” Tran said. “Ireland would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and CIF is CIF. Ideally, I’ll be able to do both.”

Either way, Tran is a long way from when she was a toddler and she learned to swim because her dad, Mark, threw her in the pool.

“It might have been the bathtub,” Tran said. “It was just, ‘Ready? Go!’ ”

Fascella, meanwhile, started swimming competitively about age 10. But the two of them joined Golden West Swim Club, and the rest was history.

“We’ve raced each other for longer, then we finally got to know each other,” Fascella said. “Our freshman year we actually raced each other in high school, not really knowing each other. We got out of the pool and I was like, ‘Oh, you’re Cindy,’ and she was like, ‘Oh, you’re Cynthia.’ And then we became friends after that when we joined the same club team.”

Fascella has also had an impressive early season. At the Mission Viejo Invitational, it was Fascella breaking Olympian Tiffany Cohen’s 1984 race mark in the 200 free. At the Klaus Barth Invitational the next weekend, Fascella topped Jessica Hardy’s 2003 race record in the 100 free with an All-American time of 51.06 seconds. She was the female swimmer of that meet. In her senior year, Fascella will try to help the Barons to a strong finish at CIF, which they got last year with a third place.

Her fraternal twin, Danica, is also on the team, although she is more known as a water polo player for the Barons.

“She didn’t find swimming, I guess, interesting enough,” Cynthia Fascella said. “She liked water polo, and I wasn’t really into water polo. Too much violence for me.”

In Tran’s freshman year, it was Edison that finished a close third at CIF finals. Last year, they won it all, and Tran assuredly played a big part in it as she won two events and was on the winning 200 medley and 400 free relay teams.

Edison co-Coach Keith Ryan has known Tran for quite a while. He went to Edison, as well.

“When I’m graduating high school, there’s this 10-year-old kid who is winning everything,” he said.

Now, eight years later, he said it’s “an honor” to have Tran on the team.

“It’s kind of like a coach’s dream,” Ryan said. “She really buys into what we do. Most high school coaches have a tough time getting club swimmers and incorporating them into the team. I’ve never had that problem.”

Tran swam at the 2008 Olympic trials in Omaha, a memorable experience as she competed in the 100 and 200 back. As for the 2012 Olympic trials, it’s never too early to start thinking about that.

“I’m thinking about it,” Tran said. “It’s kind of always in the back of my mind.”

And why not? At times, swimming can be an extremely commanding sport, even for top-level athletes like Fascella and Tran. Yet the success — for high school or club teams, individual events or relays — can make all the sacrifice worth it.

“I can’t really see life without swimming,” Fascella said. “It’s just something that I go to for comfort, I guess. When I’m having a bad day, I’ll go in the pool and work it out. I’ll swim it out.”