STATE SWIM POOL TURNS ORANGE (COAST) ON DAY 1
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[Day 1 Results] [LIVE STREAM]
Orange Coast College's women's team went 5-for-5 in swim event champions in a dominating performance on Day 1 of the 2016 California Community College Swimming and Diving State Championships on Thursday.
The Pirates hold a 43.5 points lead over Sierra after the Pirates scored wins in both relays and three individual events by three different swimmers—Sierra Cox, Alexa Clayfield, and Rebecca Aguilar (See event-by-event capsules later in release).
The men's competition also produced an OCC event win and a pair of state meet records as host East Los Angeles College Swim Stadium Pool increased its record count to 43 in the six consecutive years that the school has hosted the state meet. Diablo Valley set a new mark in the 200-yard freestyle relay while San Diego Mesa's Neil Franka etched his name in the record book for the 200 individual medley.
Sierra tops the men's standings by 21 points over Riverside while 3-time defending state champion Golden West is third at 114, hurt immensely by a DQ in the prelims of the 200 freestyle relay.
WOMEN STANDINGS: 1. Orange Coast 161.5, 2. Sierra 118, T3. Las Positas, Santa Barbara 90, 5. San Mateo 83, 6. Santa Rosa 82, 7. Foothill 80, 8. Grossmont 78.5, 9. Riverside 61, 10. Golden West 51
MEN STANDINGS: 1. Sierra 166, 2. Riverside 145, 3. Golden West 114, 4. Orange Coast 112, 5. San Diego Mesa 98, T6. Las Positas, Santa Rosa 86, 8. Diablo Valley 81, 9. Foothill 56, 10. Palomar 37
Event 1: Women's 200 Freestyle Relay: 1. Orange Coast, 1:36.00
(Nacinda Paap, Alexa Clayfield, Sierra Cox, Rebecca Aguilar)
OCC trailed Sierra early but went ahead by the second leg, winning by a full two seconds ahead of Sierra (1:38.11) and third-place San Mateo (1:38.58). Aguilar's anchor leg was a blistering 22.75 while teammate Clayfield's 23.76 second leg was pretty fast itself.
Event 2: Men's 200 Freestyle Relay: 1. Diablo Valley, 1:21.52
(Brandon James, Drew Pitcher, Garrett Middleton, Jacob Frigard)
*New State Meet Record
One year after DVC was disqualified from a victory, the Vikings set the meet record in this event in breaking a 2-year record held by Orange Coast (1:21.75). Pitcher's second leg of 20.2 was followed by another explosive split from Middleton (20.28) as Frigard anchored with a 20.31 to break the relay mark. Riverside (1:22.86) took second and Sierra was third at 1:23.64.
Event 3: Women's 500 Freestyle: 1. Sierra Cox, Orange Coast, 5:02.27
Cox fought off fellow Orange Empire Conference and Golden West swimmer Suzanna Gonzales to win a spirited race by just .34 of a second. The two battled it out from the start with Gonzales in front by as late as the 400-yard mark and two were stroke-for-stroke the final 50. Gonzales settled for the silver for the second straight year (5:02.61) while Santa Rosa's Jessica Lee was third at 5:10.92.
Event 4: Men's 500 Freestyle: 1. Sooud Altayyar, Orange Coast, 4:29.46
Altayyar went wire-to-wire for the victory as he defeated Sierra's Slava Illin (4:32.97) and Riverside's Adrien Deloffre (4:33.67, the bronze for second straight year).
Event 5: Women's 200 Individual Medley: 1. Alexa Clayfield, Orange Coast, 2:06.62
Clayfield slugged it out with San Mateo's Erica Vong and held off the CSM swimmer by just .27 of a second for the event title. Clayfield, who took third last year, swam a 26.42 opening split in the butterfly. Vong closed with a 29.39 freestyle split but Clayfield's 29.61 was enough. Santa Barbara's Addison Seale placed third at 2:11.07.
Event 6: Men's 200 Individual Medley: 1. Neil Franka, San Diego Mesa, 1:47.36
*New State Meet Record
Franka becomes a two-time champion in this event as he shatters the 5-year-old, state meet record held by Santa Monica's Jeff Lum (1:47.94, 2011). Franka opened with a 22.86 split and it was his final freestyle leg of 26.03 that blew away the competition and the record. Orange Coast's Jonathan Panchak was second (1:48.58) while Riverside's Alex Durham grabbed third at 1:52.31.
Event 7: Women's 50 Freestyle: 1. Rebecca Aguilar, Orange Coast, 23.33
Aguilar wins the free sprint for the second straight year as she just misses the state meet record by .09 of a second and won by a whopping .87 over the field. San Francisco's Raquel Pea took silver (24.20) and Golden West's Raney Remme took the bronze in 24.39. Ariahn Givens of Pasadena City broke her school's record in the event in 4th at 24.48.
Event 8: Men's 50 Freestyle: 1. Brandon Crabtree, San Diego Mesa, 20.09
Crabtree had the fastest prelim time at 20.21 and then proved to be the best free sprinter at state in defeating second-place Maxence Bouvier (Riverside, 20.52) and third-place Drew Pitcher (Diablo Valley, 20.56). Golden West's Chadd Mauer was fourth at 20.57.
Event 9: Women's 400 Medley Relay: 1. Orange Coast, 3:54.77
(Lauren Weins, Hannah Veseth, Lexi Hill, Sierra Cox)
OCC trailed after the first 100, but then used Veseth's 1:05.26 breaststroke leg to grab a substantial 4-second lead. By the time it was over, the Pirates won easily by 6.3 seconds over second-place San Mateo (4:01.07). Foothill placed third in 4:04.28.
Event 10: Men's 400 Medley Relay: 1. Sierra, 3:20.09
(Alex Siniy, Alex Shibata, Andrew Murch, Lucas Hastie)
Orange Coast led midway through the race, but Murch swam a key 48.34 breaststroke leg that helped Sierra win the versatile relay in a .70 second win over Golden West (3:20.79). OCC settled for third (3:22.07).
Event 11: Women's 1-meter Dive: 1. Emily Dunkerson, Riverside, 184.90
After losing out on first by just .65 of a point a year earlier, Dunkerson captures the gold in a relatively low scoring but fairly close diving event. Her best dive was her first--a four double somersault tuck that scored 44 of her points. Santa Rosa's Elana Candiotti took the silver with 182.25 points and Grossmont's Gina Bruestle won bronze at 180.50.
Event 12: Men's 3-meter Dive: 1. Jacob Swanson, Saddleback, 268.05
In a runaway, Swanson is the high board champion as he not only was the only 200-point scorer but won by a 69.5 point margin. The Gaucho saved his best dive for last as he scored 55.50 points with a forward 1-and-1/2 somersault with 1 twist. Sierra's Austin Foote took second at 198.55 while Las Positas' Matt Alvarado was third with 187.35.
Release by Robert Lewis, CCCSIA, CCCAA Meet SID
Pool side contact number 818-679-1335