Pirates top them all to capture conference supremacy award
COSTA MESA -- Once again, the T. Mark Johnson Supremacy Award is returning to its familiar spot as Orange Coast College topped the rest of the field to capture this year's Orange Empire Conference Supremacy Award.
Thanks to eight conference titles -- including six in the spring -- the Pirates finished with 160.5 points, topping defending supremacy champion Riverside (136.8 points), followed by Saddleback (121.5), Fullerton (115), Golden West (91.5), Santa Ana (89.5), Cypress (87), Irvine Valley (86), Santiago Canyon (31.5), Copper Mountain (8.5) and Norco (3).
Scores are based on points earned for conference finishes, with 10 points for first, eight points for second, seven for third and so on.
The Pirates opened the fall semester with an OEC title in women's water polo and a runner-up in men's water polo. OCC's men's basketball team stunned the "experts" throughout the area and won its first OEC title in 40 years, setting up a dominating spring semester that saw Coast top the competition in baseball, men's golf, men's and women's swimming, women's tennis and men's volleyball.
OCC captured two state titles in 2017-18, winning the men's and women's swim titles, while finishing runner-up in men's volleyball, third in baseball and third in men's golf.
With all of these strong seasons, the Pirates finished fourth in the National Alliance of Two-Year College Athletic Administrators (NATYCAA) Cup award, given to the most successful community college program in all of California. Coast finished with 148 points, trailing only Mt. San Antonio (175), Sierra College (153.5) and San Joaquin Delta (149.5), with Fresno City College (144) finishing fifth overall. OCC has won that statewide honor twice and finished in the top-10 13 times in the 15-year history of the NATYCAA Cup.
On the national level, OCC finished 10th in the nation for the 2018 Learfield Sports Director's Cup with 148 points. Iowa Central Community College (186 points) captured the 2018 Learfield Cup.
