Pirates hanging tough with Sierra, SMCC after Day 1 of State Meet
MONTEREY PARK -- The Orange Coast College women's swim team is joining Sierra College and Santa Monica City College for the race to the top of the platform after a solid Day 1 performance at the California Community College Athletic Association State Swimming and Diving Championships on Thursday at East Los Angeles College.
With several point-producing finishes, the Pirates wrapped up the first day with 120 points, just six points behind the Wolverines and Corsairs, who both have 126. Santa Barbara and Santa Rosa are tied for fourth overall with 90 points, while Riverside sits sixth at 78.5 points.
Coast earned a pair of state runner-up performances to help garner major points against the best of the best.
Gabrielle Quinonez, last year's state champion in the 500-meter freestyle, actually swam faster this year, but ran into a buzzsaw in Mia Park from El Camino, who topped everyone with a time of 5:04.73. Quinonez was right on her heels the entire race and earned a hard-fought silver medal with a solid time of 5:07.09
Another runner-up mark came in 1-Meter diving, where OCC's Lia Borja knocked out an impressive back-1 somersault, 1 1/2 twist that earned her 42.5 points en route to a meet total of 221.25 points, just behind Santa Rosa's Maia Chase (228.60).
In the 200 freestyle relay, the foursome of Destiny Hernandez, Brandi White, Brooke Munoz and Marissa Pearcy battled Santa Monica and Santa Barbara down to the final touch, finishing third with a time of 1:39.45, just barely behind the Corsairs (1:38.56) and Vaqueros (1:39.4).
Coast picked up some more valuable points in the 400 medley relay as the team of Sydni White, Brandi White, Natalia Stanard and Quinonez placed fifth overall with a time of 4:09.66.
Day 2 of the CCCAA State Meet will take place on Friday at ELAC, with finals beginning at approximately 4 p.m.
