Golden West, Sierra take first-day leads at state swimming and diving championships
MONTEREY PARK, Calif. - While Sierra College is sitting atop the women’s standings and a close second to Golden West in the men’s standings, the CCCAA State Swimming and Diving Championships featured Thursday what the East Los Angeles College Swim Stadium is best known for—state meet records.
Two more took place on Day 1 of the three-day event to bring the state meet record total to 49 in now the seventh year that ELAC has been the host site.
Both records came from the women’s side beginning with Santa Barbara City College’s Gina Jacobson setting a new points record in winning the 1-meter diving board title. Then it was San Mateo’s Erica Vong smashing a 14-year-old record in the 100-yard backstroke on the opening leg of the women’s 400 medley relay. Vong also scored a state title in winning the 200 individual medley in one of the fastest community college times in that event’s history. (See event recaps later in release).
WOMEN STANDINGS: 1. Sierra 153, T2. Las Positas, Santa Barbara CC 96, 4. San Diego Mesa 95, 5. Santa Rosa 91, 6. Palomar 77, 7. Cuesta 75, 8. Orange Coast 68, 9. San Mateo 54, 10. Riverside CC 53.
MEN STANDINGS: 1. Golden West 161, 2. Sierra 157, 3. Riverside CC 141, 4. Las Positas 96, 5. Santa Rosa 79, 6. Diablo Valley 78, 7. Orange Coast 70, 8. San Diego Mesa 62, 9. Ventura 45, T10. Cypress, Mt. San Antonio 38.
Event 1: Women’s 200 Freestyle Relay: 1. Sierra, 1:37.53
(Claudia Guillory, Corinne Linke, Lauren Ostrander, Kirsten DePauw)
Sierra took the early 50-yard lead and kept it throughout with San Diego Mesa finishing in second at 1:38.50 and Santa Barbara in third at 1:38.93. Guillory’s opening 24.47 leg did the trick for the Wolverines.
Event 2: Men’s 200 Freestyle Relay: 1. Sierra, 1:23.39
(Michael Crouch, Stetson Wheeler, Shane Triplett, Jeremiah Olmstead)
Sierra trailed Orange Coast after the first 50, but a strong second leg by Wheeler (21.07) helped it take the lead for good. Golden West’s Chadd Maurer swam a 20.10 anchor leg to help his team take silver at 1:23.88 while Las Positas grabbed third in 1:24.18.
Event 3: Women’s 500 Freestyle: 1. Melissa Cienega, Pasadena City, 5:03.83
For the first 450 yards, it was all Cox, the defending champion in the event, but Cienega picked up fuel and caught Cox (5:04.13) in the final 10 yards as the Lancers freshman grabbed the gold by .30 of a second. Anna Stahlak of San Diego Mesa finished third in 5:10.40.
Event 4: Men’s 500 Freestyle: 1. Drew Sipple, Santa Rosa, 4:32.37
Sipple trailed after the first 50, but traded places several times with second-place Zhen Teo before finally posting a .57 second victory. Sipple’s key was at the 350-yard mark as he outdistanced Teo with a full second rally to grab the advantage. Riverside’s Farouk Zaoui placed third at 4:35.21.
Event 5: Women’s 200 Individual Medley: 1. Erica Vong, San Mateo, 2:04.17
After finishing in second place last year, Vong had no intention of letting any other swimmer take the gold medal this year with a brilliant 5-second romp over the next fastest competitor. Vong started with a strong 26.03 in the butterfly and then had a monster 30.33 in the backstroke as she built her giant lead. Vong tried to catch a 20-year-old state meet record but fell .69 of a second short. Cuesta’s Lauren Davis was second (2:09.17) and Santa Rosa’s Taylor Sargis placed third (2:10.43).
Event 6: Men’s 200 Individual Medley: 1. Maxence Bouvier, Riverside City, 1:50.99
From lane 8, Bouvier established himself with a 23-second butterfly opening and never looked back as he captures the versatile event crown. Golden West’s Santiago Rivera took silver in 1:51.82 and Darren Chan Chin Wah (De Anza) picked up the bronze at 1:52.10.
Event 7: Women’s 50 Freestyle: 1. Samm Crocker, Golden West, 23.92
Crocker swam to form as the state’s fastest sprinter coming into the meet with a .52 second triumph. El Camino’s Cindy Ngo grabbed second in 24.44 and Santa Barbara’s Reese Ellestad took third in 24.52.
Event 8: Men’s 50 Freestyle: 1. R.J. Williams, Santa Rosa, 20.37
If this was a horse race, it was long shot picking time as Williams who had the fifth fastest prelim mark used an explosive turn and blew away the favorites for the sprint title. Williams won by .41 over the state’s previous fastest sprinter Maurer of Golden West who placed second at 20.78, followed at the wall by Orange Coast’s Donny Hadden (20.82), who wins the bronze just ahead of Sierra’s Michael Crouch (20.97).
Event 9: Women’s 400 Medley Relay: 1. Sierra, 3:58.44
(Claudia Guillory, Abigail Brouwer, Lauren Ostrander, Corinne Linke)
*State meet record set by Erica Vong of San Mateo in the 100-yard backstroke, opening leg at 54.46.
This relay had double the excitement even with Sierra’s rally to win the race. While the Wolverines took the gold with Linke’s strong finishing kick, San Mateo settled for silver at 3:59.57. However, it was the opening leg by Vong, who smashes a 14-year-old state meet record in the 100 backstroke. Her time was .40 faster than the old mark set by Orange Coast’s Sherry Tsai in 2003. Palomar closed fast as well to take the bronze at 3:59.73.
Event 10: Men’s 400 Medley Relay: 1. Golden West, 3:23.12
(Aidan Lund, Miles Dunn, Sonny Ford, Chadd Maurer)
Maurer went full throttle in his anchor leg to overtake Riverside’s Jacob White and help the Rustlers win an important relay race. The 40 points allowed Golden West to take a 4-point team standings lead over Sierra after 10 events. Riverside placed second at 3:24.23 and Sierra was third in 3:25.38.
Event 11: Women’s 1-meter Diving : 1. Gina Jacobson, Santa Barbara, 246.85
*--New State Meet Record
On her final dive, the freshman Jacobson scored all the points she would need, 42, to break a 9-year-old state meet record and win the 1-meter board gold. Jacobson nailed an impressive a 1-1/2, somersault pike on that last dive as she broke the old record by 6.75 points of Orange Coast’s Nikki Burrelli. SoCal 1-meter champ Alejandra Gomez of Cypress might have won in other years but her 232.55 points had her settle for silver. Las Positas’ Valentina Barbalinardo scored 226.10 to take third place. Saddleback’s Nicolette Spriggs was fourth with a solid 212.50 points.
Event 12: Men’s 3-meter Diving: 1. Travis Russo, San Mateo, 246.85
Not a typo, but Russo’s points score matched exactly that of the women’s 1-meter champion as he captured the men’s high board title. In his third dive, Russo bottled a good portion of his points as his inward, 2-1/2 somersault tuck gave him a whopping 52.5 points on that attempt alone. Chaffey’s Noah Luna grabbed second with 229.40 points and Riverside’s Brenden Brown was third at 212.25. No other male diver reached 176 points.
Release by Robert Lewis, CCCSIA, CCCAA Meet SID
Pool side contact number 818-679-1335