Pirate men dominate field to win OEC team swimming/diving title
RIVERSIDE -- The Orange Coast College men's swim team came out quickly and never let up at last weekend's Orange Empire Conference Championships -- hosted by Riverside City College -- capturing the OEC team title with a dominating 935.5 points, over 250 points higher than the rest of the field.
Golden West College was a distant second overall with 684 points, followed by Riverside (526.5), Saddleback (395), Cypress (280.5), Fullerton (59) and Santa Ana (0).
Hayden Hemmens earned Co-Swimmer of the Meet for the Pirates (along with GWC's Santiago Rivera). Cole Gerard shared Co-Divers of the Meet honors with Saddleback's Jeff Rebrukh and head coach Anthony Iacopetti was named OEC Coach of the Year.
On Day 1, OCC captured all but one first-place finish and picked up 287 points. Hayden Hemmons broke the 500-yard freestyle record with a time of 4:29.41. His time was SIXTEEN seconds faster than runner-up Jacob Thompson of Golden West (4:45.02).
Sprinter Michael Jones earned first place in the 50 free with a time of 20.57.
The 200 free relay foursome of Jones, Dawson Sloan, Akili Allen and Donny Hadden touched the wall first with a time of 1:22.14.
Sloan picked up a bronze medal in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:54.99.
OCC's second relay victory came on Day 1 as the foursome of Hayden Hemmens, Allen, Sloan and Jace Hong edged out the Rustlers at the wall with a time of 3:23.38 in the 400 medley relay.
In the 3-meter diving event, Gerard came through with a conference title for the Pirates, earning a score of 168.70.
On Day 2, OCC opened things with a win in the 200 medley relay as the foursome of Jones, Hadden, Reece Hemmens and Tiago Coimbra Pinto rolled to a winning time of 1:32.29.
In the 100 butterfly, Allen was pushed to the limit by RCC's Alexandre Piron, but the OCC standout touched the wall first with a time of 49.51, just .01 ahead of Piron's 49.52 and .23 ahead of teammate Hadden (49.75).
It was a 1-2-3 finish for OCC in the 200 free, led by Hayden Hemmen's meet-record time of 1:38.73, followed by Sloan (1:41.61) and Reece Hemmens (1:44.24).
Coast capped off the second day in grand style, dominating the field in teh 800 free relay with a time of 6:42.87. The quartet of Jones, Sloan, Hadden and Hayden Hemmens finished over 20 seconds ahead of runner-up Golden West (7:01.39).
On Day 3, Hayden Hemmons picked up the gold in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:47.76, just ahead of teammate Diego Pabalan's runner-up time of 1:51.82.
In the 100 free, it was a sea of orange and blue as Coast finished 1-2-3-4-5 in the event, led by Reece Hemmens' time of 44.73, followed by Hadden (45.09), Sloan (45.26), Allen (45.92) and Jones (45.96).
To cap off the three-day meet, Coast cruised to victory in the 400 free relay as the foursome of Sloan, Reece and Hayden Hemmens and Donny Hadden clocked in with a state-record time of 2:59.77.
The Pirates will look to wrap up this fantastic season in grand style as they travel to De Anza College for the 2018 California Community College Athletic Association State Swim/Dive Championships, set for May 3-5.
