Pirates maintain lead after Day 2 of State Meet

CUPERTINO -- Day 2 is in the books at the California Community College Athletic Association State Swim Championships and the team results still have Orange Coast College ahead on both sides of the scoresheet. The OCC men hold a 31-point lead over second-place Sierra (400-369), while on the women's side, Coast carries a 354-296.5 lead over Santa Rosa heading into the final day of competition.

Here is an event-by-event breakdown of the winners, as described by Robert Lewis, the state representative of the California Community College Sports Information Association.

The third and final day of competition takes place on Saturday at De Anza College.

Event 13: Women's 200 Medley Relay
Champion—Orange Coast (Lauren Weins, Meghan Kluck, Kennedy Hood, Lilli Lindgard), 1:44.80
The Pirates just missed by .53 of matching the college's own state meet record set two years ago as the they win their third relay in three events. OCC was the class of the field as it defeated silver medalist Santa Rosa (1:47.01) by 2.21 seconds and beat bronze finisher Diablo Valley by nearly five seconds. Weins 27.08 opening backstroke and Lindgard's anchor 22.56 freestyle were big contributors to the triumph.

Event 14: Men's 200 Medley Relay
Champion—Orange Coast (Michael Jones, Tiago Coimbra Pinto, Donny Hadden, Reece Hemmens), 1:32.01
Having Reece Hemmens as the closer has worked well for the Pirates. In this race, Golden West led after 150 yards with a solid third leg by Santiago Rivera (22.73), but it was OCC's Hemmens 20.07 anchor that did the trick as the Pirates held off second place Sierra (1:32.60) and the third place Rustlers (1:32.67) to go 3-for-3 thus far in relay victories.

Event 15: Women's 400 Individual Medley
Champion—Anita Alvarez, Diablo Valley, 4:31.87
A U.S. Olympic synchronized swimmer prior to attending DVC, Alvarez showed her versatile talent in nearly breaking a state meet record (.14 off the mark) to grab gold in the longer IM event. Orange Coast's Cheyenne Morris took the silver at 4:34.63 and Santa Rosa's Reilly Clarkson reached the bronze.

Event 16: Men's 400 Individual Medley
Champion: Jason Harary, Mt. San Antonio, 3:58.16
Harary battled Golden West's Santiago Rivera stroke for stroke, but it was the Mountie's second 100 that overtook Rivera for a one second lead. In the final 50, Rivera nearly caught Harary, but he had enough to edge Rivera by .71 of a second for the long IM gold. Rivera settled for the silver for the second straight year while Ryan Wang set a new Pasadena City College school record in third at 4:01.68.

Event 17: Women's 100 Butterfly
Champion: Sayeh Faridnia, West Valley, 56.51
Faridnia makes it back-to-back state titles in this event as she opened with a 26.33 and never looked back. Lauren Weins (Orange Coast) took second at 57.73 and Palomar's Jordann Heimback was third in 58.34.

Event 18: Men's 100 Butterfly
Champion: Brandon Crabtree, San Diego Mesa, 46.49—STATE MEET RECORD
Crabtree had the pleasure of smashing a 2-year old state meet record because it was his own! Crabtree was .03 off the mark in the prelim, but the Olympian swam like a shark in the opening 50 at 21.45 and rolled past his former mark by 1.46 seconds. Orange Coast's Akili Allen (48.62) and Donny Hadden (49.03) placed second and third, respectively.

Event 19: Women's 200 Freestyle
Champion: Melissa Cienega, Pasadena City, 1:54.22
Known for her finishing kick, Cienega needed it as the Lancer won her fourth state title in two years as she held off San Joaquin Delta's Madeline Wittkowske by .44 of a second. El Camino's Cindy Ngo took third (1:55.62) and was followed closely by San Diego Mesa's Samantha Schmidt (1:55.73).

Event 20: Men's 200 Freestyle
Champion: Hayden Hemmens, Orange Coast, 1:37.84
It was the Hatfields v. the McCoys of swimming as two sets of brothers, the Hemmens of OCC and the Ilins of Sierra, decided to use their hands, arms, legs and feet as weapons. As it turned out, Hayden Hemmens picked up his second state title of the meet with an outstanding 1:37.84 mark. Sierra's Daniel Ilin also beat the 1:40 mark at 1:39.44 and his older brother Slava Ilin was third at 1:40.61. Not to be left out in the cold, Reece Hemmens made it a double-double brotherly love final by taking fourth in 1:40.78. Oh brother!

Event 21: Women's 100 Breaststroke
Champion: Taylor Sargis, Santa Rosa, 1:04.19
Sargis closed in the final 50 to beat out Orange Coast's Meghan Kluck (1:05.35, second) for the event title. Sargis, who took the silver last year, used that experience to win out. Diablo Valley's Jamie Wanket placed third at 1:05.96.

Event 22: Men's 100 Breaststroke
Champion: Bang Kai Chao, Diablo Valley, 55.52
Chao trailed after 50 yards, but his final 29.26 left the rest of a close field for this crown. Miles Dunn of Golden West took the silver at 56.57 and Sierra's Cameron Hoppe grabbed the bronze in 56.74. Sierra's Noah Scholar (56.95, fourth) and DVC's Adam Fishbaugh (56.95, fifth) also made for a tough race.

Event 23: Women's 100 Backstroke
Champion—Ashley Tse, Mt. San Antonio, 56.20
Continuing with the theme of double state champions, Tse was steady and fast in winning her second title of the meet. Orange Coast's Lauren Weins took second in 57.17 and San Diego Mesa's Julie Parsons was third (58.06).

Event 24: Men's 100 Backstroke
Champion—Samuel Jo, Pasadena City, 50.02
Jo repeated as the shorter distance backstroke champ as his experience kicked in with a speedy 23.95 opening 50. In the last 20 yards, Jo worked hard to keep his lead as he touched the wall just ahead of second place finisher Michael Jones (Orange Coast, 50.20) and Aleksandr Siniy (Sierra, third place, 50.66). 

Event 25: Women's 800 Freestyle Relay, 7:53.17
Champion—Palomar (Rebekah Blackburn, Violet Stewart, Madalyn Johnson, Jordann Heimback)
The Comets broke Orange Coast's streak of relay wins, but they had to fight off San Joaquin Delta (second, 7:53.95) and Diablo Valley (third, 7:54.18) to earn the 40 points. Orange Coast placed fourth at 7:55.57, but it was Palomar's squad that for a least a little while allowed for another team to enjoy some gold hardware.

Event 26: Men's 800 Freestyle Relay
Champion—Orange Coast (Dawson Sloan, Michael Jones, Hayden Hemmens, Donny Hadden), 6:39.59—STATE MEET RECORD
The Pirates are making this meet one for the ages as they are 4-for-4 in relay victories after smashing the 800 state meet relay record by a whopping 3.73 seconds. OCC beat a 7-year-old record set by Ventura (6:43.32). Sierra placed second (6:46.16) while Pasadena City grabbed third in 6:52.91. Hayden Hemmens in the third leg swam the fastest of the four Pirates at 1:38.22, but anchor Hadden rode that wave with an equally fast 1:38.57 to clinch the record easily.

Event 27: Women's Diving 3-Meter Board
Champion: Alejandra Gomez, Cypress, 246.90 points
Gomez won what is believed to be the closest diving title in CCC history, defeating silver medalist Ashley Dettman of San Diego Mesa by .35 of a point. Gomez, who collected a double this year, picked up her third state diving title in two seasons. The high board championship came down to the final dive. Dettman was leading, 204.55-192.90. But Gomez scored the entire event's highest scoring dive with 54 points on a forward-2-1/2 pike. Dettman's 42 points on a back-1-1/2 with 1-1/2 twist came up a hair short. Saddleback's Sarah Duke grabbed the bronze with 238.10 points while Sierra's Milena Milbern was a strong fourth at 223.30.

Event 28: Men's Diving 1-Meter Board
Champion: Josh Hamby, San Joaquin Delta, 273.65 points
Hamby is a double state champ behind a key fourth dive, an inward 1-1/2 that scored 52.80 points. Hamby won despite second-place San Diego Mesa's Jon Rios-Brady (265.95) scoring more 50-point plus dives with four to Hamby's two. However, Rios-Brady had a fabulous fifth dive, a forward 2-1/2 that scored an event high 56.40 points. What hurt Rios-Brady was a tough third dive that resulted in only 16.1 points while Hamby's lowest dive scored 30.45. Defending state champ Noah Luna settled for third place with 238.15 points. Saddleback's Jeff Rebrukh was the only other 200-point scorer with 202.25, good enough for fourth place.