Gold rush continues for Pirate women at State Swim Meet

LOS ANGELES -- The gold medals continued to pile up for the Orange Coast College women's swim team as the Pirates widened their gap against the field on Friday following Day 2 of the 2016 California Community College Athletic Association State Swimming and Diving Championships, hosted by East L.A. College.

After winning five swim state titles on Thursday, the Pirates earned five more gold medals and enter the final day of competition with a commanding lead against the rest of the top teams in the state. Coast has racked up 382 points through the first two days and lead runner-up Sierra College (250) by a whopping 132 points. Santa Rosa (212 points) is in third overall, followed by Santa Barbara City College (200) and Los Positas College (194).

OCC wasted no time getting onto the awards podium, winning the 200-yard medley relay with a state meet record time of 1 minutes, 44.27 seconds, nearly five full seconds ahead of runner up San Mateo (1:49.05). The foursome of Lauren Weins, Hannah Veseth, Rebecca Aguilar and Alexa Clayfield grabbed the lead near the midway point of the race and never looked back, breaking the two-year-old record of Diablo Valley by .82 of a second.

Clayfield, already the state champion in the 200 individual medley, returned to the pool for the 400 IM and blistered the field with a championship time of 4:31.85, over seven seconds faster than the rest of the field. De Anza's Yurie Akimoto finished a distant second with a time of 4:39.52 as Clayfield picked up her fourth gold medal of the championship.

It was a 1-2 finish for the Pirates in the 200 freestyle, led by sophomore standout Rebecca Aguilar, who topped her silver-medal finish from a year ago to take the gold with a time of 1:51.15. Teammate Sierra Cox led through the first 100 yards with a 55.91 split, but came in second with a solid time of 1:54.54).

One of the closer races of the day came in the 100 breaststroke as Veseth battled Foothill College's Layna Auchard the entire length of the race. With one final reach, Veseth was able to out-touch Auchard in a near photo-finish and took the gold medal with a time of 1:06.07, just ahead of Auchard's time of 1:06.14. OCC teammate Nacinda Paap earned the bronze medal with a time of 1:06.95.

The 10th and final gold medal for the Pirates came in the 800 freestyle relay as the foursome of Paap, Clayfield, Cox and Aguilar left the rest of the competition in their wake, winning the title with a time of 7:38.59, an incredible 17 seconds ahead of runner-up Golden West (7:55.59). Aguilar led the way for the Pirates with a 200 split time of 1:51.28, the fastest 200 split of any swimmer for the second year in a row.

Adding to the OCC medal count, Lauren Weins earned the bronze medal in the 100 backstroke with a solid time of 57.70 seconds.

The final day of the State Meet takes place on Saturday at ELAC, with the finals set to begin at 4 p.m.