Orange Coast women, Sierra men stand out on Day 1 of State Swim Meet

Photo--Risa Akatsu of Santa Monica College won the women's 200 IM.

Day 1 results and team scores

Day 1 Photo Gallery

MONTEREY PARK - Some things never change, and even after three years removed from the last state meet, Orange Coast College and Sierra picked up where they left off from the previous decade on Day 1 of the CCCAA State Swimming and Diving Championships held Thursday.

The OCC women scored event victories in the 500 freestyle by Giselle Quinonez and the 400 medley relay to help the Pirates take the standings lead with 150 points. Sierra is second at 121, and Long Beach City is third with 87. OCC won the state title in both 2018 and 2019.

The Sierra men's team, the champions in 2019, leads with 167 points, only 20 ahead of Orange Coast. Cuesta is the only other triple-digit scorer from the opening day with 118. 

The Wolverines were paced by two thrilling relays wins, beating OCC in both the 200 freestyle relay (.46 edge) and 400 medley relay (by just .23) and a win by Jake Reuter in the 200 individual medley.

WOMEN'S STANDINGS: 1. Orange Coast 150, 2. Sierra 121, 3. Long Beach CC 87, 4. San Joaquin Delta 70, 5. Santa Monica 68, 6. Riverside CC 64, 7. San Diego Mesa 62, 8. Cuesta 61, 9. American River 60, 10. Diablo Valley 49.

MEN'S STANDINGS: 1. Sierra 167, 2. Orange Coast 147, 3. Cuesta 118, 4. American River 99, 5. Diablo Valey 97, 6. Golden West 92, 7. Palomar 75, 8. College of the Sequoias 60.5, 9. Bakersfield 51, 10. West Valley 50.

THURSDAY, MAY 5

Event #1: W-200 freestyle relay: Champion--Cuesta 1:39.24 (Ryanne Bartolome, Meghan Abbott, Anna Kreowski, Jensen Perry), 2. Orange Coast, 1:40.27, 3. Santa Barbara 1:41.24. The Cougars scored the fastest time in the state this year in rallying to win this opening relay. Santa Monica led early, but by the halfway mark, Abbott put them ahead. Perry had a strong anchor leg to cap a valuable 40 team points for Cuesta. 
Event #2: M-200 freestyle relay: Champion--Sierra, 1:22.20 (Evan Terry, Caleb Tracy, Aidan Thompson, Andrew Espinoza), 2. Orange Coast, 1:22.66, 3. Cuesta, 1:24.82. 1:23.98. An epic race that went down the final wall touch, the Wolverines used an impressive 19.91 anchor leg by Espinoza to just edge out Orange Coast and its anchor Matthew Simpson. Ethan Smith had given the Pirates the early lead with a 20.50 split.
Event #3: W-500 freestyle: Champion--Giselle Quinonez, Orange Coast, 5:08.67, 2. Marie Lucquet, West Valley, 5:13.77, 3. Ensley Letterman, Santa Barbara, 5:19.06. Quinonez saved her best 500 swim for this final as she dropped 11 seconds from her prelims time and upset favorite Lucquet. Quinonez was ahead by the 100-yard mark and never looked back.
Event #4: M-500 freestyle: Champion--Tatsuki Inouye, Orange Coast, 4:33.52, 2. Max Pecile, Allan Hancock, 4:37.07, 3. Timothy Godin, Palomar, 4:37.99. Inouye controlled the distance win and showed his endurance and speed with a final leg of 26.68.
Event #5: W-200 individual medley: Champion--Risa Akatsu, Santa Monica, 2:08.36, 2. Sydney Fortune, San Diego Mesa, 2:13.82, 3. Atiya Yuwana, Long Beach, 2:14.64. Akatsu swam to form and easily won the versatile event by more than five seconds. 
Event #6: M-200 individual medley: Champion--Jake Reuter, Sierra, 1:48.57, 2. Matthew Simpson, Orange Coast, 1:51.09, 3. Andrew Leong, Orange Coast, 1:52.26. Reuter opened up with a quick 23.41 in the butterfly then had the best backstroke leg of anyone at 26.61 on his way to the IM victory. 
Event #7: W-50 freestyle: Champion--Jillian Lambert, Sequoias, 24.32, 2. Camryn Bussey, Sierra, 24.35, 3. Piper Rea, Sierra, 24.47. Lane 5 seemed to be a popular one on Day 1 as Lambert outtouched prelims leader Bussey by just .03 of a second for the sprint gold. The top 6 medalists were all from the North Region. 
Event #8: M-50 freestyle: Champion--Ethan Smith, Orange Coast, 20.17, 2. Lucas Esenwein, Cuesta, 20.61, Andrew Espinosa, Sierra, 20.70. Smith recorded the top time of the year with a .33 of a second drop from his top seed prelims time. Not surprisingly, Esenwein and Espinosa, joined Smith in the top 3 as that trio has been consistent all season. 
Event #9: W-400 medley relay: Champion--Orange Coast 4:04.84 (Alaire Thomas, Yuuri Yoshikawa, Sude Yilmazturk, Giselle Quinonez) 2. Sierra 4:09.09, 3. Long Beach 4:12.06. As expected, the Pirates were too much for the field while there were an unusual two team disqualifications. Yoshikawa swam a 1:08.57 in the breaststroke leg and that put OCC in front. Quinonez final 55.18 anchor leg allowed OCC to "coast" to the finish.
Event #10: M-400 medley relay: Champion--Sierra 3:19.04 (Evan Terry, Jake Reuter, Tommy Collins, Andrew Espinosa), 2. Orange Coast 3:19.27, 3. American River 3:26.69. Like two heavyweights, Sierra and OCC battled it out in yet another super close relay. Terry's opening leg of 48.92 got things going, but Espinosa's anchor 45.11 was enough to beat OCC's Andrew Leong (45.31) and give Sierra a .23 second victory.
Event #11:W-1-meter board: Champion--Lorelai Carney, Riverside CC, 213.95 points. 2. Anahit Cholokyan, LA Valley, 197.80, 3. Laurel Plewe, Sierra, 193.35. Carney's opening dive, an inward 1-1/2 somersault tuck, scored her high of 46.2 points and her final dive, a back 1 somersault 1-1/2 twist free, netted 41.4 to propel the Tiger to the title. 
Event #12: M-3-meter board: Champion--Donovan Taylor, Palomar, 193.25 points. 2. Brian Bedford, American River, 172.45, 3. Jakob Fransen, Long Beach, 169.35. Taylor broke away from the field with an opening high score of 55.35 on an inward 2-1/2 somersault tuck as he won the high board title. The top seed and NorCal champion Jude Dizon settled for fourth (162.55) while American River's Bedford had the top North mark here in second. 

Sierra's Jake Reuter won the men's 200 IM.

Release by Robert Lewis, CCCSIA/CCCAA State Meet SID