Pirates claim both OEC Swim Crowns
COMPLETE RESULTS CAN BE FOUND HERE
RIVERSIDE -- It was a sea of orange and blue in the Riverside City College pool as the Orange Coast College men's and women's swim/dive teams took home both team titles at the 2022 Orange Empire Conference Championships this past weekend.
On the men's side, the Pirates controlled things from the opening race and took home 12 individual and relay conference titles and finished the three-day event with a team score of 868 points. Golden West was a distant second with 701 points, followed by Saddleback (477), Riverside (366), Cypress (286) and Fullerton (116).
For the OCC women, they also ruled the pool and took home 14 individual/relay titles and finished with 823 points, followed by Riverside (657), Fullerton (484), Saddleback (3450, Cypress (317) and Golden West (314).
OCC's Caden Montini was named the OEC Male Diver of the meet, Ethan Smith was Co-Male Swimmer of the Meet and OCC's Giselle Quinonez was the OEC Female Swimmer of the Meet.
DAY 1
The OCC men busted out of the gates on the opening day and scored 258 points. Coast began the day with a first place finish in the 200 Free Relay (1:25.10) backed by a dominant showing from Tatsuki Inoue in the 500 Free (5:16.21). The Pirates continued on to take second and third place in the 200 IM with Andrew Leong (1:53.13) placing second overall, while Toby Jones (1:59.75) finished third.
Ethan Smith kept the momentum moving forward with a victory in the 50 Free (20.53), while Dane Howell (21.16) followed closely behind in second place.
OCC's 400 Medley Relay (3:23.38) finished first overall with Matthew Simpson, Inoue, Jones and Leong all sharing the gold medal.
On the women's side, Orange Coast held a slight 33-point advantage over the Tigers as they lead the way with 255 total points. OCC hauled in three of the first place medals, while Fullerton and Riverside each pocketed a top finish.
The Pirates earned their first win from Giselle Quinonez as she touched the wall first in the 500 Free (5:16.21). Delaney Lewellyn (5:23.97) followed in second place.
Journey Werner (24.85) and Sude Yilmazturk (25.19) placed back to back in the 50 Free to reel in a hefty amount of points, while a first place 400 Medley Realy (4:07.09) team consisting of Alaire Thomas, Yoshikawa, Yilmazturk and Quinonez earned the gold medal by nearly 16 seconds.
DAY 2
The Pirate men extended their lead after day two by pushing their total to 615 points. Orange Coast left the Riverside Aquatics Complex with five gold medals draped around their necks. Two of them came in relays as they touched the wall first in the 200 Medley Relay (1:32.14) and the 800 Free Relay (6:55.32). Inoue earned the biggest honor of the day by snapping the 100 Back (49.63) record en route to a commanding win. The previous mark was set at 50.36 by Golden West's Aiden Lund in 2017. Ethan Smith placed first in the 100 Fly (48.01), while Matthew Simpson earned the top mark in the 400 IM (4:02.50).
Andrew Leong hauled in the silver medal in the 100 Fly (49.86) and the 100 Back (50.91), while Thomas Lemoncito matched his second place mark finish in the 100 Breast (59.37). October Jones followed in third in the 100 Breast (59.73).
Meanwhile, the Pirate women extended their lead over the field by finishing the day with 581 total points. All but one race was won by OCC as they took command of the pool throughout day two.
Sude Yilmazturk was the catalyst as she racked up to top finishes coming in the 100 Fly (1:00.30) and the 100 Back (1:00.39).
Coast began the day with a victory in the 200 Medley Relay (1:32.14) to get off to a strong start. Giselle Quinonez touched the wall first in the 200 Free (1:58.28), while Yuuri Yoshikawa followed with a first place mark in the 100 Breast (1:08.99). They finished the day with a dominant performance in the 800 Free Relay (8:08.25).
DAY 3
Ethan Smith's record-breaking championship mark in the 200 Fly (1:48.53) highlighted the Pirates' efforts backed by two other gold medal finishes. Matthew Simpson touched the wall first in the 200 Back (1:48.19), while they earned a top finish in the 400 Free Relay (3:04.56). Tatsuki Inoue placed second in the 200 Back (1:49.36) to round out the top finishes.
For the OCC ladies, Giselle Quinonez set the tone early by touching the wall first in the 1650 Free (18:21.01), while Delaney Lewellyn followed two swims later with a top finish in the 200 Back (2:11.97). Journey Werner hauled in her second-consecutive title in the 100 Free (53.30) and Yuuri Yoshikawa earned a meet-best mark in the 200 Breast (2:30.75).
Sarah McNeal finished right behind in the 1650 Free (19:28.74), while Alaire Thomas (2:14.52) and Kayla Yamamoto (2:16.24) finished consecutively in the 200 Back.
Both Pirate teams will now have two weeks to prepare for the California Community College Athletic Association State Swim/Dive Championships, hosted by East Los Angeles College, on May 5-7.
