Pirate men in fourth place after Day 1 of State Swim Championships
LOS ANGELES -- The Orange Coast College men's swim team holds down the No. 4 spot in the team standings after Day 1 of the California Community College Athletic Association State Swimming and Diving Championships, held at East Los Angeles College.
Through six events, the Pirates have earned 112 points and trail Sierra (166), Riverside (145) and Golden West (114) with two days of finals still to be decided.
Leading the way for OCC was the strong performance of Sooud Altayyar in the 500-yard freestyle. The freshman standout out of Kuwait jumped out to the early lead and never looked back, winning the Pirates' first state individual title of 2016 with a time of 4 minutes, 29.46 seconds. Sierra's Slava Illin (4:32.97) finished second, while Riverside's Adrien Deloffre (4:33.67) placed third for the second straight year.
In the 200 individual medley, sophomore Jonathan Panchak battled San Diego Mesa's Neil Franka down to the wire before settling for a silver medal after touching the way with a time of 1:48.58, just behind Franka's state meet record time of 1:47.36.
The Pirates held a lead midway through the 400 medley relay, before Sierra came on strong to win the title with a time of 3:20.09. Coast placed third with a time of 3:22.07.
The State Meet continues on Friday and Saturday at East Los Angeles College. A live stream of the meet can be found HERE.
