Sierra Men, SBCC Women jump to Day 1 lead at 3C2A Swim/Dive Championships
COSTA MESA – The Sierra College Wolverines carry a slight lead over Orange Coast on the men's side while Santa Barbara City College has the early advantage in the women's standings after Day 1 of the 3C2A State Swimming and Diving Championships held Thursday at the Orange Coast College Aquatics Pavilion.
The 3-time defending champion Wolverines are showing no signs of slowing down and used a state victory by Troy Quintana in the 500-yard freestyle and a comeback win in the 400 free relay to grab a 22-point lead on the host Pirates. Coast came out of the gates smoking hot, winning both the women's 200 freestyle relay and the men's 200 free relay, earning a state record on the men's side to monpolize the records in state meet relays.
El Camino's Mia Park earned her second consecutive state gold medal in the women's 500 freestyle.
On Friday, the Day 2 prelims begin at 9 a.m., then the finals at 4:30 p.m.
WOMEN'S STANDINGS: 1. Santa Barbara 148, 2. El Camino 104, 3. Santa Rosa 90.5, 4. Long Beach 82, 5. Orange Coast 75, 6. West Valley 74, 7. Foothill 64.5, 8. Mt. San Antonio 58, 9. American River 57, 10. Diablo Valley 56.
MEN'S STANDINGS: 1. Sierra 198, 2. Orange Coast 176, 3. Cuesta 85, 4. Golden West 79.5, T-5. El Camino 78, T-5 American River 78, 7. Mt. San Antonio 74, 8. Riverside 73, 9. Las Positas 64, 10. Diablo Valley 50.
The following are event-by-event capsules:
THURSDAY, MAY 2
Event #1: W-200 freestyle relay: Champion – Orange Coast College 1:37.77 (Paige Woodside, Kiley Kawai, Gia Cadiz, Rylie Fox), 2. Santa Rosa 1:38.43, 3. Santa Barbara 1:38.55. Following a brief "Pelican Delay", the race went off without a hitch as Orange Coast and Santa Rosa went neck and neck throughout all four rounds. With the Pirates trailing by .4 after the first 150 yards, Fox showed why she was the OCC anchor and ripped off a 23.97 split to bring Coast to the wall first, edging out SRJC by .69 seconds.
Event #2: M-200 freestyle relay: Champion – STATE RECORD -- Orange Coast 1:21.26 (Gideon Stemmons, Ryan Xu, Dylan Bertino, Mason Parker, 2. Riverside, 1:22.1, 3. Cuesta, 1:22.63. It didn't take long for the host Pirates to leave their mark in the state record book as the foursome of Gideon Stemmons, Ryan Xu, Dylan Bertino and Mason Parker topped the previous-best mark of 1:21.52, set by Diablo Valley back in 2016. That gives OCC possession of ALL five current relay records. In the battle for silver, Riverside's Zekiah Serrano's strong anchor leg lifted the Tigers from bronze to silver, with Cuesta settling for third.
Event #3: W-500 freestyle: Champion – Mia Park, El Camino, 4:59.51, 2. Lily Carrick, Santa Barbara, 5:01.03, 3. Caroline Oates, Santa Barbara, 5:05.53. Make it 2-for-2 for ECC's Mia Park, who successfully defended her 500-free title by shaving off over four seconds off of last year's state-winning time of 5:03.58. Carrick, who's 5:01.03 would've won gold in 2023, settled for a solid silver medal performance, with fellow Vaquero, Oates, taking the bronze by nearly four seconds.
Event #4: M-500 freestyle: Champion – Troy Quintana, Sierra, 4:30.96, 2. Nolan Chomin, Golden West 4:31.9, 3. Samuel Slezak, Mt. San Antonio, 4:33.59. Quintana lurked in the shadows for most of the state finals before turning on the jets for the final 100 yards to pull out the win. Quintana's 24.73 final 100 put the Wolverine freshman ahead for good, with GWC's Chomin earning the silver, just .96 seconds off of Quintana's pace.
Event #5: W-200 individual medley: Champion – Iyanah Samayoa, El Camino, 2:07.32, 2. Noemi Bravo-Guzman, Allan Hancock, 2:07.51. 3. Ema Klimauskas, Santa Monica, 2:09.81. Another race that came down to the wire, Samayoa used a blistering 35.69 breaststroke leg to grab the lead from Bravo-Guzman and out-touched her AHC opponent at the wall to claim victory by .19 seconds.
Event #6: M-200 individual medley: Champion – Greyson Davies, Grossmont, 1:49.17, 2. Cayden Pritzer, American River, 1:49.89, 3. Zachary Zauhar-Kurr, Las Positas, 1:50.05. In a race where the top three swimmers finished within a second of one another, it was Davies who grabbed the early lead – thanks to a 23.6 butterfly split -- then held off his top two opponents at the wall to pick up the state gold, .72 seconds ahead of Pritzer and .88 ahead of Zauhar-Kurr.
Event #7: W-50 freestyle: Champion – Camille Seiley, Grossmont, 23.62, 2. Lilliana Noriega, L.A. Valley, 23.67, 3. Maddie Myers, Santa Barbara, 24.21. By the length of an arm-touch at the wall, Seiley gave Grossmont back-to-back state titles after men's individual medley just minutes prior. Noriega looked to have a slight edge at the wire, but a perfectly executed touch at the wall gave Seiley the win by just. 05 over Noriega and .59 seconds over Myers.
Event #8: M-50 freestyle: Champion – Gideon Stemmons, Orange Coast, 20.45, 2. Christopher Nihart, Sierra, 20.61, 3. Rylan Stevenson, Cuesta, 20.77. With Darth Vader's Imperial March theme song inspiring him, OCC's Gideon Stemmons used the force to his advantage and out-touched Nihart at the wall for the state sprint title by just .16 seconds. Stevenson also put forth a good effort and earned the bronze, just .03 ahead of Riverside's Yousef Nahali. The OCC win keeps the sprint state title in house following Ethan Smith's 19.81 in last year's championship final.
Event #9: W-400 medley relay: Champion – Santa Barbara (Erin Otsuki, Maddie Myers, Lily Carrick, Caroline Oates), 3:59.33, 2. El Camino, 4:01.95, 3. West Valley, 4:02.69. The Vaqueros found some smooth water and victory over in Lane 7 with a strong, all-around performance from all four swimmers. Otsuki's 58.57 backstroke split put SBCC ahead and Oates' strong freestyle kept away a late comeback bid from El Camino in Lane 3. West Valley took the bronze, while the fastest qualifier, Mt. San Antonio, settled for fourth.
Event #10: M-400 medley relay: Champion – Sierra (Tyler Natrass, Deklan Heinzen, Genoa Nixon, Christopher Nihart), 3:20.48, 2. Orange Coast, 3:22.06, 3. American River, 3:25.09. The final two swimmers for the Wolverines – Nixon and Nihart – rallied Sierra College to the state championship, overcoming defending state-champion OCC for the win. Coast carried the lead halfway through before a 48.98 butterfly from Nixon put SC in the lead and Nihart carried it the rest of the way.
Event #11: W-1-meter board: Champion – Rachel Choi, American River, 229.60, 2. Sarah Dorn, Las Positas, 226.05, 3. Aubrey Watts, American River, 208.85. Choi ripped through all six of her dives to edge out Dorn for the gold medal with just three-plus points separating gold from silver. Watts joined Choi and Dorn as the lone trio of divers to eclipse 200 points on the short board.
Event #12: M-3-meter board: Champion – Ayden Jacobus, Ventura, 238.50, 2. Easton Farmer, Sequoias, 220.25, 3. Jonah Grove, Sierra, 218.10. The sophomore Jacobus picked up the gold medal on the high board by over 18 points over another letterman Farmer and 20 points clear of Grove. That trio of divers cleared the rest of the field with room to spare as no other diver topped 200 points over their six dives.
Release by Tony Altobelli, 3C2A State Swim Meet SID