Orange Coast women holds big lead, Sierra men slimmer advantage on State Swim Meet's Day 2
By Robert Lewis, CCCSIA
CUPERTINO - Orange Coast College is a perfect 4-for-4 on relays wins in the women's competition while Sierra won three men's events in trying to keep pace with Diablo Valley on Day 2 of the California Community College Athletic Association 2019 State Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Championships at De Anza College.
The Pirates are running away at the top of the women's standings by 162 points over second-place San Diego Mesa. Meanwhile, the men's title quest is a Big 8 Conference war between Sierra with 360 points and DVC now with 330.
Two state meet records were broken, including the second of the meet on the 3-meter diving board by American River diver Amy Crayne, who has the distinction of breaking an 11-year-old points record set by Sierra's Nikki Campora (263.05) with her new 266.30 mark.
The other record was turned in by El Camino's Ida Due in the 400 individual medley (see capsules for details). Five different athletes won their second events of the meet.
The final day of the state meet is Saturday with the prelims at 9 a.m. and the finals beginning at 4 p.m.
WOMEN STANDINGS
1. Orange Coast 398, 2. San Diego Mesa 236, 3. Diablo Valley 226, 4. Sierra 201, 5. Las Positas 177, 6. American River 170, 7. San Joaquin Delta 154, 8. Santa Rosa 130, 9. Santa Barbara City 110, 10. Riverside City 100.
MEN STANDINGS
1. Sierra 360, 2. Diablo Valley 330, 3. Mt. San Antonio 246, 4. Santa Monica 168, T5. Las Positas, Santa Rosa JC 153, 7. Riverside 151, 8. Grossmont 148, 9. Merced 96, 10. Ventura 94.
EVENT-BY-EVENT CAPSULES
FRIDAY DAY 2 RESULTS
W-200 Medley Relay
1. Orange Coast, 1:46.84 (Riley Crow, Meghan Cluck, Kylie McCormick, Kennedy Hood)
Following a similar path as it did last year, the Pirates picked up their third relay victory in three attemps in nearly a 2-second win over second-place and regular season top seed Sierra (1:48.79). This time, it was McCormick's butterfly third leg that was instrumental in giving the Pirates separation. After 100 yards, Sierra trailed by just .25 of a second, but McCormick 26.25 swim increased the lead to a healthy .64. Hood closed a quick in her 23.47 freestyle anchor to put the race out of reach. Las Positas took third in 1:50.18.
M-200 Medley Relay
1. Diablo Valley, 1:32.71 (Sean Remmert, Adam Fishbaugh, Kai Nashan, Christian Henry)
The Vikings picked up valuable points in their second relay victory, a 1.24 margin over Las Positas (1:33.95) with Santa Monica placing third (1:34.21). SMC was right with DVC after 150 yards, trailing by just .04 but Henry's anchor freestyle leg of 20.17 was too much for SMC while LPC's Esteban Perez Del Rio's monster 19.86 anchor couldn't make up a large deficit, but helped his team earn silver.
W-400 IM
1. Ida Due, El Camino, 4:30.49 (State Meet Record)
Due smashes a 4-year-old record set by Santa Barbara's Rachelle Visser by 1.24 seconds as she dominated the field, winning the long individual medley title by more than 12 seconds over second-place Rory Nuuhiwa (Sierra, 4:42.52). Santa Monica's Shayna Simmer took third in 4:42.59. Due's third breaststroke leg proved to be her most impactfu as her 1:09 split opened up a 5-second leg on her way to the new state standard. IT was Due's second event win in two days.
M-400 IM
1. Jason Harary, Mt. San Antonio, 3:56.29
Harary knocked off three seconds from his state-leading seed time as he crushed the field by nearly 10 seconds for his sweep of the individual medley titles (won the 200 IM on Thursday). Harary held a less-than-three second lead after two legs, but his third breaststroke 1:06 split turned the race into a rout with the lead improved to seven seconds. College of the Canyons Rowdy Feather placed second (4:06.09) and Pasadena City's Michael Humphrey scored third in 4:06.37.
W-100 Butterfly
1. Riley Crow, Orange Coast, 57.55
Crow is the butterfly queen as she swam to state-leading form to win this event. Diablo Valley's Taylor Cossu scored the silver in 58.03 and LA Valley's Caitlin Hecker earned bronze at 58.36.
M-100 Butterfly
1. Mario Marshall, Pierce, 49.40
In a 1-2-3 all Western State Conference top 3 finsih, Marshall held off Santa Monica's second-place Colin Casey (49.64) by .24 with the state's best time this year. Casey's Corsairs teammate Oliver Kabilka placed third in 49.93.
W-200 Freestyle
1. Madeline Wittkowske, San Joaquin Delta, 1:51.71
Wittkowske knew how close she came a year ago from gold (second by .44 of a second) and this time she was able to fight off San Diego Mesa's Allyson Hansen with a spirited final 50 yards. She turned an .04 stroke advantage into a .58 margin victory with a 28.68 finish. Hansen took second in 1:52.29 while Bakersfield's Daran Towns was a distant third at 1:55.89
M-200 Freestyle
1. Daniel Ilin, Sierra, 1:37.94
Ilin got a taste of how fast he can go last season in 1:39 for the silver, and he used his experience to get the best of second-place and top seed Erick Fathoni of Riverside (1:38.21), who beat his own Orange Empire Conference record by .30. Ilin has two event victories at this year's meet. Diablo Valley's Sean Remmert placed third in 1:41.47.
W-100 Breaststroke
1. Meghan Kluck, Orange Coast, 1:03.05
As advertised, it was indeed a dual to the wall for Kluck and Pasadena City's Carmen Ung with Kluck capturing the title by only .15. Ung's 1:03.20 is a PCC school record. It was Kluck's second individual event win at the meet and her fifth gold medal including relays. Sierra's Danielle Brown placed third at 1:04.34
M-100 Breaststroke
1. Noah Scholar, Sierra, 56.52
The state's top swimmer in the event coming in, Scholar proved to be a gentleman as well in scoring the victory in a slim .21 over Diablo Valley's Adam Fishbaugh (56.73). Las Positas' Nico Cory was third in 57.11.
W-100 Backstroke
1. Maiha Mizuta, Foothill, 57.68
An expected duel took place between Foothill's Maiha Mizuta and San Diego Mesa's Julie Parsons (57.76) with Mizuta just edging her opponent at the wall by .08 for the gold. Santa Rosa's Katie Morrison (59.85) was third and Laney's Helene Takamura was a close fourth (59.87).
M-100 Backstroke
1. Ethan Trieu, Mt. San Antonio, 50.54
Trieu was true to his top state seeding as he wins the title by .49 over Ventura's Cooper Fuchs (51.03) and third-place Gary Woo of Sierra (51.49).
W-800 Freestyle Relay
1. Orange Coast, 7:48.33 (Amber Theders, Hood, Cheyenne Morris, Crow)
The Pirates didn't let an upset take place here as it did last year in winning its fourth relay title in two days. OCC trailed San Diego Mesa by 2.23 seconds after the opening 200, but Hood made up the difference in just her first 100 yards in leg 2. SJ Delta placed second in 7:50.94 while Mesa settled for third (8:00.18).
M-800 Freestyle Relay
1. Sierra, 6:52.29 (Andrew Grantham, Leo Vorobyev, Daniel Ilin, Eric Thias)
The Wolverines stood in sixth place after the opening 200, fell to seventh by the midway mark at 6.5 seconds behind leader Mt. San Antonio, but that was before Ilin made up the entire deficit in his 200 yards third leg. Ilin's 46.98 opening split had sliced the lead to only two seconds and by the time 600 yards were done, Sierra had taken the lead by a full second. Thias anchored the long free relay title. Mt. SAC picked up the silver in 6:55.60 and Diablo Valley the bronze at 6:58.09.
W-3-Meter Diving Board
1. Amy Crayne, American River, 266.30 (State Meet record)
Crayne pulled off the double board title and will go down in history as the new record holder on both the low and high boards. She wooed the judges especially on her fifth dive a Forward 1-1/2 Somersaults with 1 Twist scoring 52 points, including a masterful 8.5 by one judge. On her final dive, she scored the new record with a Back 1-1/2 Somersaults and 1-1/2 Twists again totaling a high score of 52.5 points. San Diego Mesa's Maya Fielding took second with 191.55 points and Las Positas' Charlotte Goddard was third with a 185.95.
M-1-Meter Diving Board
1. Aaron Augustine, Rio Hondo, 287.50
Augustine spoiled what would have been two straight years of double diving titles by San Joaquin Delta's Josh Hamby with huge scores on his last two dives. Augustine picked up 104.5 points. On his second to last dive, he used a Forward 1-1/2 Somersault with 1 Twist to pick up an 8.5 and an 8 from two of the judges and 7s from four others. He scored two more 8s on his winning Back 1-1/2 SS, 1-1/2 Twists with only one judge scoring lower than 7.5. Hamby, who has three board titles to his credit in the last two years, settled for the silver with a solid 273.80 points while De Anza's Joseph Heilman grabbed bronze on 244.35. San Diego Mesa's Sean Proctor also scored high with 243.40 for fourth.