Pirates take top spot at Riverside Invitational
RIVERSIDE -- It was a sea of blue and orange for the Orange Coast College women's swim team this past weekend as the Pirates took the team top spot at the 2022 Riverside City College Invitational.
Coast finished the three-day meet with a top team score of 905 points, topping host Riverside (863), Grossmont (427), El Camino (313) and Palomar (303), among others in the nine-team invitational.
Thanks to nine individual and relay victories, the Pirates ruled the pool from start to finish.
Yuuri Yoshikawa was the top performer for the Pirates throughout the event, taking home three first-place individual spots and was a part of two relay victories as well. Yoshikawa touched the wall first in the 50 freestyle (25.77 seconds) before topping the field in both the 100 breaststroke (1:10.94) and the 200 breast (2:37.51), an event where she finished 22 seconds ahead of the rest of the competition.
It was a 1-2-3 finish in the 500-yard freestyle for the Pirates, led by the trio of Giselle Quinonez (5:26.17), Delaney Lewellyn (5:43.9) and Gabriella Hester (5:50.02).
Quinonez made it 2-for-2 with another win in the 200 free with a time of 2:01.5. teammate Kayla Yamamoto finished third overall with a 2:11.56.
Another double winner for the Pirates came from Sude Yilmazturk, who won both the 100 backstroke (1:01.2) as part of a 1-3-4-5 finish for the Pirates as well as the 100 butterfly (1:01.87), joining Lewellyn (2nd, 1:06.11) and Hester (1:08.42) in a 1-2-3 finish.
While OCC didn't win the 200 back, it was a 2-3-4-5-6 finish for the Pirates, led by runner-up Lewellyn and her time of 2:20.16, just ahead of Yilmazturk (2:20.85), Alaire Thomas (2:21.89), Yamamoto (2:22.03) and Sydni White (2:26.69).
Coast also picked up huge points and won the 800 free relay (8:34.16 ... 17 seconds ahead of Riverside), the 400 free relay (3:48.75) and the 400 medley relay (4:26.4).
OCC will return to the Riverside City College pool on Friday, March 25 for another OEC meet, which kicks off at 9:30 a.m.
