Pirate women rule the pool at PCC Invitational
PASADENA -- The Orange Coast College women's swim team used a pair of record-setting performances to win the 14th Pasadena Invitational Swim Meet held April 4-5 at PCC's Aquatic Center.
The Pirates topped the 16-team meet with an overall score of 804.5 points. Diablo Valley (564.5) was a distant second, followed by American River (508), Mt. San Antonio (456.5) and Pasadena (297).
Much like the OCC men, the Pirate women started and finished the meet with relay victories, but the ladies also set a pair of meet records in doing so.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the OCC foursome of Claire Aguilar, Kellie Thorsness, Kaitlyn Finney and Kessy Hickey used a late push to touch the wall first with a time of 1 minute, 37.43 seconds, slightly ahead of Diablo Valley's 1:38.33. Both times topped the previous-best time of 1:38.87, set last year by DVC.
In the final race, the 400 free relay, the same four Pirate swimmers jumped ahead early and kept DVC and the rest of the teams at bay to win with a meet-record time of 3:39.78, topping OCC's 2010 meet-record time of 3:42.54.
In the 200 medley relay, Coast again prevailed as Thorsness, Sophie Shiba, Vivianne Mai and Chloe Kim came in with a winning time of 1:51.89, edging out DVC (1:51.94) at the wall. Thorsness overcame nearly a one-second deficit in the anchor leg to give OCC the win.
Not finished for the weekend, Thorsness also earned a runner-up finish in the 50 free (24.58) and a third-place performance in the 100 free (54.92).
OCC divers Candis Buck and Rae Adams each put out solid performances throughout the weekend. In the 3-meter event, Buck claimed first place with a score of 251.95, while Adams was close behind her Coast teammate with a score of 238.55. In 1-meter diving, Adams placed second overall with a 192.90, while Buck took third with a 184.90.
Other top-three performances from the Pirates included the 800 free relay (3rd, 8:36.26), the 400 medley relay (3rd, 4:12.35), Aguilar in the 100 individual medley (2nd, 1:02.38), Chloe Kim in the 50 butterfly (2nd, 27.22), Mai in the 50 breaststroke (3rd, 31.86) and Hickey in the 50 backstroke (3rd, 29.4).
The Pirates will now get ready for the conference, regional and state championships. First off, the OCC divers will compete in the OEC/SoCal Dive Championships at El Camino College on April 13 and 17. The Coast swimmers will head to Riverside City College on April 18-19 for the OEC Championships, with both dates beginning at 9:30 a.m.
