Pirates finish fourth in state swim finals!
LOS ANGELES -- The Orange Coast College men's swim team wrapped up another successful season by finishing fourth overall at the 2014 California Community College Athletic Association State Meet, held at East L.A. College.
Coast finished with 282.5 points, finishing behind only Golden West (478), Mt. San Antonio (344) and Santa Rosa (319) in the 30-team field.
The opening events set the tempo for the rest of the weekend as three State Meet records were broken within the first 12 events of the competition. One of those history-setting performances came courtesy of the OCC men's 200-yard freestyle relay.
The foursome of Sean Richards, Collin Latham, Travis Hone and Kasey Foley destroyed the rest of the field and won the state title with a record time of 1 minute, 21.75 seconds, topping the previous record of 1:22.20, set by Santa Rosa in 2011. Richards started strong with a 20.58 split and it just got better and better as Latham (20.37) and Hone (20.24) helped give Foley plenty of room for the Pirates' state title in the event.
Coast earned several second-place honors throughout the three-day meet as the Pirates finished runner-up in the 800 freestyle relay (6:52.34) and 400 freestyle relay (3:03.03). On the individual side, Foley finished tied for second place with Las Positas' Justin Stafford in the 50 freestyle with a time of 20.87.
It was a busy weekend for Richards. In addition to his relay efforts, the sophomore standout also qualified for the finals in three individual events and placed third in the 100 backstroke (51.63), fifth in the 200 free (1:41.35) and eighth in the 500 free (4:43.87).
Foley was one of three finals qualifiers for the Pirates in the 100 free and finished fourth overall with a time of 45.98, followed by teammates Tim Polman (7th, 46.39) and Latham (8th, 46.52).
Latham earned another finals spot in the 50 free and placed sixth overall with a time of 21.05.
Eric Lindsey showed his stamina and finished sixth in the 1,650 free (16:40.15), while the 400 medley relay team took fifth with a time of 3:30.77.
