Pirates win 200 medley relay; finish sixth in state
LOS ANGELES -- The men's 200-yard medley relay was the crowning jewel of a solid weekend of competition for the Orange Coast College men's swim team, who finished sixth overall at the 2013 California Community College Athletic Association Swimming and Diving State Championships this weekend.
Coast finished with 261 points for the three-day meet. Golden West won the state title with 430 points, followed by Palomar (325), Diablo Valley (313), Cuesta (310.5) and Ventura (266).
OCC's lone state title for the weekend came in the 200 medley relay, where the Pirate foursome of Gerritt Hill, Chris Bernard, Tyler Jankovich and Sean Richards rallied from behind to edge out Palomar and Grossmont with a winning time of 1 minute, 33.53 seconds.
After falling behind in the backstroke leg, Bernard helped pull the Pirates closer in the breaststroke before a solid butterfly by Jankovich put the Pirates ahead at the freestyle portion of the race. Richards exploded off of the blocks and swam a 20.5 anchor leg to edge out the Comets (1:33.98) by .45 of a second, while Grossmont (1:34.2) finished third.
Jankovich did well on his own for the Pirates as well, finishing third in the 100 butterfly with a time of 50.81.
Richards showed he's more than a sprinter, posting a solid fourth-place time of 1:41.18 in the 200 freestyle. On Saturday, Richards finished third in the 100 backstroke with a time of 46.34.
