Pirate women cruise to victory at Pasadena Invitational
PASADENA -- The Orange Coast College women's swim team dominated the 16-team field at last weekend's Pasadena City College Invitational, winning the meet with 808 points.
Thanks to several victories, including a pair of meet record-setting performances, the Pirates led the rest of the field with room to spare, as evidenced by runner-up Diablo Valley's 632-point score. Santa Barbara City College (543) finished third, followed by Mt. San Antonio (404), Pasadena (268), Saddleback (268), Allan Hancock (220), El Camino (179), Cypress (134), Santa Monica (94), East Los Angeles (94) and Ventura (67).
It was a fast pack of teams throughout the event as five records were set on the women's side (eight more record on the men's side), with two coming from the Pirate women. The OCC women's 200-yard medley relay foursome of Lauren Weins, Meghan Kluck, Kennedy Hood and Lilli Lindgard lowered the meet record by nearly two full seconds with a winning time of 1 minute, 47.62 seconds, topping the previous-best mark of 1:49.37, set by Diablo Valley College, back in 2013. DVC finished a distant second in the event at 1:51.12, followed by SBCC (1:53.74).
Weins also etched her name in the meet record books on an individual basis, winning the 100 backstroke with a meet record time of 57.23, besting Madison Varisco's previous best of 58.18 set in 2015.
In addition to her record-setting result in the 100 back, Weins touched the wall first in four other individual events and helped the Pirates win three other relay events throughout the weekend. The sophomore standout took the top spot in the 100 butterfly (57.96), the 100 backstroke (57.23) and the 200 backstroke (2:09.25), ahead of teammate Cheyenne Morris, who finished third (2:17.02). Weins also captured gold in the 200 butterfly with a winning time of 2:11.4, leading a 1-2-3 finish for the Pirates that included Michelle Cornejo (2:20.06) and Jackie Chang (2:23.22).
In the 800 freestyle relay, it was Weins, along with Lindgard, Hood and Morris who cruised to victory with a 12-second victory and a time of 8:05.4.
The Coast quartet of Weins, Kluck, Morris and Kylie McCormick took home the fastest time in the 400 medley relay with a time of 4:05.36.
In the 400 free relay, Weins joined Kluck, Lindgard and Hood to notch a winning time of 3:36.88, while in the 200 free relay, it was Kluck, Lindgard, McCormick and Hood leading Coast to a winning time of 1:39.22.
Lindgard picked up a pair of individual wins as well, taking the top spot in the 50 free (24.59) and the 100 free (53.6), while Hood finished close behind in both events, taking second in the 50 free (24.96) and 100 free (54.25).
Morris wasn't done with her weekend either, as she showed her stamina by winning the 1,650 free with a time of 18:12.93.
After this impressive showing, the Pirates will have two weeks to prepare for the Orange Empire Conference championships, which will take place on April 19-21 at Riverside City College.
