Pirates conquer OEC Swim/Dive Championship
HUNTINGTON BEACH -- The "fun" part of the 2023 swim/dive is now underway and for the Orange Coast College men's swim/dive team, "fun" is in the form of winning and the Pirates did a lot of that over the weekend at the Orange Empire Conference Championships, hosted by Golden West College.
The Pirates, courtesy of 13 individual and relay victories over the three-day competition, conquered the field with a winning team score of 649 points, followed by Golden West (427), Riverside (405) and Saddleback (288).
Coast began it's impressive run on Thursday when Matthew Simpson topped the field in the 200-yard individual medley, touching the wall first with a winning time of 1 minute, 50.46 seconds. Standout swimmer Ethan Smith, picked up the first of his SEVEN first-place marks with a OEC-best time of 20.22 in the 50-yard freestyle.
Smith helped etch the Pirates in the OEC record book throughout the competition and it began on Thursday when he joined Simpson, Tatsuki Inoue and Dane Howell in the 400 medley relay and broke the conference record with a time of 3:19.45, besting the previous mark of 3:22.61, set by GWC back in 2017. Coast's time on Thursday was over 12 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
On Friday, Coast picked up four more top times and broke another OEC record to further distance themselves from the rest of the conference.
Tatsuki Inoue topped a 1-2-3 finish in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:47.97, followed by Simpson (1:49.07) and Keita Inoue (1:56.06).
Howell added to his hardware with a winning time of 45.49 in the 100 freestyle.
Smith topped his own OEC record in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:47.56, breaking his time of 1:48.53 set last season.
And ... it was another relay win for the Pirates as the foursome of Mason Parker, Simpson, Howell and Smith left the competition in their wake in the 400 freestyle relay with a winning time of 3:03.50.
Coast opened Saturday's day of competition with another OEC record, this time in the 200 medley relay, where Inoue, Simpson, Smith and Howell clocked in with an OEC-best time of 1:31.47, edging out the 2016 Rustlers, who held the previously fastest time of 1:31.94 back in 2016.
In the 400 IM, Simpson made it 2-for-2 in the individual medley races for the weekend, topping the field with a winning time of 4:03.51.
Smith again was his own toughest competition as he topped his own OEC record in the 100 butterfly, becoming the first ever to break 48 seconds in the OEC with a tie of 47.99, bettering his 48.01 from last year.
Coast went 1-2 in the 200 freestyle, with Parker touching the wall first at 1:42.0, followed by fellow Pirate, Jacob Muller at 1:43.44.
Tatsuki Inoue broke his own OEC record in the 100 backstroke with a time of 49.26, topping last year's record time of 49.63.
Finally, in the 800 Free Relay, the foursome of Brandon Samaniego, Parker, Muller and Smith capped off an extraordinary weekend of swimming with a winning time of 6:52.68.
The Pirates will now set their sights on the rest of the state, with the 2023 California Community College State Meet, which takes place May 4-6 at East Los Angeles College. Last year, the OCC men finished second overall to Sierra College and will look for its ninth state title in men's swimming and the school's first since 2018.
