PIRATE WOMEN DOMINATE FIELD TO WIN STATE SWIM TITLE!
LOS ANGELES -- In one of the most dominating performances in state swimming history, the Orange Coast College women's swim team captured the state title on Saturday night at the 2016 California Community College Athletic Association State Swimming and Diving Championships, hosted by East Los Angeles College.
Winners of an incredible 12 individual and relay events, the Pirates ruled the pool over the entire three-day event and came home with the championship hardware to prove it. Coast finished the meet with 569 points, well ahead of second-place Sierra College, who scored 337 points, followed by Santa Rosa (294), Santa Barbara City College (281) and Golden West (264).
"We spent all year working for this weekend and this result is exactly what we were going for," said Orange Coast head coach and State Women's Coach of the Year Anthony Iacopetti. "These results came from discipline and hard work and couldn't be more proud of our team."
It was the 18th women's state team title in school history for the Pirates and their first since 2012.
OCC Sophomore Rebecca Aguilar, named the State Swimmer of the Year following the meet, competed in the 100-yard freestyle and completed her freestyle hat trick with a start-to-finish victory, touching the wall with a time of 50.59 seconds. Over the first two days, she won the gold in the 50 free and 200 free and finished her OCC career with five individual state titles.
"When she puts her mind to something, she really gets after it," Iacopetti said about Aguilar. "She's extremely hard-willed and determined and I couldn't be more proud of her."
Perhaps the most amazing feat of her fifth and final individual title occurred in the final lap of her race where she clocked in with a 25.5, but did so in a remarkable way. "She only took one breath over that last lap," Iacopetti said with a big smile on his face. "The mental toughness it takes to fight off fatigue and still be able to push yourself to that high of a level is remarkable."
In her final race of her Coast career, she wrapped up the State Meet by anchoring the state-champion 400 freestyle relay, joining Nacinda Paap, Alexa Clayfield and Sierra Cox for a winning time of 3:31.8, over four seconds ahead of runner-up Golden West (3:35.98).
Looking through the three days of domination by the Pirates came the realization that it could have even been better.
Clayfield put forth an incredible final 50 yards in the 200 backstroke, but was out-touched at the wall and took home the silver medal with a time of 2:02.53, just .29 of a second behind the eventual champion.
In the 200 breaststroke, Hannah Veseth led for much of the race in Lane 7 but was caught at the end by defending state champion Layna Auchard of Foothill College (2:25.96) and finished second with a time of 2:26.71. Right next to Veseth in Lane 6, Paap added to the OCC hardware by taking home the bronze with a time of 2:27.94
Cox opened Day 3 with a grueling 1,650-yard freestyle and put forth a strong effort, earning the bronze medal with a time of 17:38.35.
In all, the OCC women earned 12 gold medals, two silver medals and three bronze medals over the entire 20-event State Meet.
