Pirates first, second after Day 2 of State Swim Championships
MONTEREY PARK -- The championship medals continue to pile up for the Orange Coast College men's and women's swim teams after another impressive day of competition at the 2022 California Community College Athletic Association State Swim/Dive Championships on Friday at East Los Angeles College.
After two days of events, the OCC women's team has pulled further away from the rest of the state and lead with 380 points, followed by Sierra College (241.5), Cuesta (157), Long Beach City (152) and Riverside (138). On the men's side, the Pirates continue to hold a firm spot on second place with 293 points, trailing first-place Sierra with 380. Cuesta is third with 250 points, followed by American River (220) and Diablo Valley (180) with one final evening of finals to go.
The Pirate ladies picked up their lone state title on Friday right off the bat as the foursome of Delaney Lewellyn, Yuuri Yoshikawa, Sude Yilmazturk and Journey Werner took home the gold in the 200 medley relay. Sierra (1:51.06) hung tough with the Pirates through most of the race before Werner's brilliant 24.19 freestyle anchor sealed the victory for the Pirates.
Other state top-3 performances for the Pirate women included Yilmazturk in the 100 butterfly (2nd, 58.18), Yalmazturk again in the 100 backstroke (2nd, 58.66) and the 800 freestyle relay (2nd, 8:05.12).
For the OCC men, a pair of state titles were claimed on Friday. Ethan Smith, state champion in the 50-yard free on Thursday, returned to the top of the podium on Friday by winning the 100 butterfly with a winning time of 47.28, edging out OCC teammate, Andrew Leong (48.38) for the top time. Smith and Leong would later share the top of the podium along with teammates Tatsuki Inoue and Matthew Simpson as the Pirates took the state title in the 800 free relay with a time of 6:41.17 ... nearly 8 seconds faster than runner-up Sierra's time of 6:49.86. Smith continued his impressive State Meet performance with the fastest 200-yard split of the event at 1:39, which was faster than the winner of the 200 individual freestyle race
Other top-3 state marks were turned in by Simpson in the 400 individual medley (2nd, 3:59.81) and Tatsuki Inoue in the 100 backstroke (2nd, 49.31).
The third-and-final day of the CCCAA State Meet takes place on Saturday at ELAC, with the finals set for 4 p.m.
