Coast women finish runner-up at OEC Swim Championships
HUNTINGTON BEACH -- The Orange Coast College women's swim team finished last weekend's 2017 Orange Empire Conference Championships in second place overall with a team score of 712 points.
Riverside City College won the women's title with a team score of 802, while Saddleback (520), Golden West (404), Cypress (337), Fullerton (243) and Santa Ana (159) finished behind the Pirates.
The medals came early and often for the Pirates as Sierra Cox took on the best of the conference in the 500-yard freestyle and took home the gold with a dominating time of 5:00.29, a full 16 seconds ahead of teammate and runner-up Katya Burjakowsky (5:16.57).
Lexi Heyerly kept the gold coming in the 200 individual medley, edging out RCC's Kelly Perez with a winning time of 2:14.77, just ahead of Perez's time of 2:14.8. Fellow Pirate Darian Davis took third with a time of 2:18.15.
In the 400 free relay, Davis, Heyerly, Cox and Sian Davis set the pace and never let up, winning the event with a time of 4:06.77, outlasting the RCC foursome's runner-up time of 4:08.45.
Cox led off Day with with a dominating performance in the 400 individual medley, taking home the gold with a time of 4:39.57, well ahead of RCC's Perez (4:51.21).
In the 200 free, it was a 1-2 battle between Heyerly and Saddleback's Raselle Chetwynd and in the end, Heyerly had to settle for runner-up with a time of 1:57.81, just behind Chetwynd's time of 1:57.39.
Coast picked up another OEC title in the 800 free relay as the team of Burjakowsky, Heyerly, Cox and Darian Davis outlasted runner-up Riverside and touched the wall first with a time of 7:56.52, just ahead of the Tigers' team time of 7:58.67.
Burjakowsky showed off her stamina in the water by kicking off Day 3 with a gold-medal performance in the 1,650 free, winning the conference title with a time of 17:54.23, a full 16 seconds ahead of runner-up Kayleen Bretz of Cypress (18:11.79).
Cox made it three individual gold medals at the OEC Championships with a winning time of 2:09.89 in the 200 butterfly.
The Pirates will now prepare for the 2017 California Community College Athletic Association State Swimming Championships, hosted by East Los Angeles College, beginning on Thursday, May 4, at 9 a.m.
