Pirate women place third overall at CCCAA State Meet
MONTEREY PARK -- The Orange Coast College women's swim continue to rank among the best aquatic programs in the state and the 2023 Pirates kept that tradition alive with a solid third-place team finish at the California Community College Athletic Association Swim/Dive State Championships on Saturday at East Los Angeles College.
The Pirates wrapped up the 2023 season with the team bronze medal after wrapping up the three-day state championships with 333 points, trailing only Santa Monica (410) and Sierra (372). Santa Rosa (304) finished fourth, followed by Santa Barbara (304), Palomar (201) and Diablo Valley (193).
Leading the way for OCC on Saturday was distance specialist Giselle Quinonez, who not only successfully defended her state meet title in the 1,650-yard freestyle, she shaved off a full 20 seconds from her 2022 state title time with a winning time of 17 minutes, 45.01 seconds. Runner-up Emma Marsalek of Allan Hancock College (18:12.02) had the lead for the first portion of the race before Quinonez took over at the 500-yard mark and never looked back, finishing 27 seconds ahead of the next-fastest swimmer in the pool.
In the final race of the season, the Pirate 400-freestyle relay team of Destiny Hernandez, Brandi White, Brooke Munoz and Quinonez stepped up and finished third in the state with a time of 3:41.99.
Other state final performances for the Pirates were turned in by Marissa Pearcy in the 200 backstroke (6th, 2:13.15), Sydni White in the 200 back (7th, 2:14.01), Brandi White in the 200 breaststroke (8th, 2:35.9).
