Orange Coast College Women Cruise to Win at CCCAA Championships

Orange Coast College women’s swimming and diving team took 12 of 20 events to win the team title at the the 2016 California Community College Swimming and Diving State Championships at East Los Angeles College. It was the Pirates’ 18th women’s state team title and first since 2012.

OCC’s Rebecca Aguilar led the Pirates with three individual titles. The sophomore swept the sprint freestyle events, winning the 50 (23.33), 100 (50.59) and 200 (1:51.15) – one better than last year when she won the 50 and 200. Aguilar, named 2016 Female Swimmer of the Meet, climbed to the top of the podium five times in six individual events during her two-year tenure at OCC.

Teammate Alexa Clayfield scored a double with wins in the 200 IM (2:06.62) and 400 IM (4:31.85). She dominated the longer race, winning by 7.6 seconds, but had a narrow escape in the 200, edging San Mateo’s Erica Vong by .27. Other Pirates winning individual events were Sierra Cox in the 500 free (5:02.27) and Hannah Veseth in the 100 breast (1:06.07). Both Cox and Veseth won by narrow margins in exciting races.

In addition to the individual titles, OCC won all four relays. Their 200 free relay of Nacinda Paap, Clayfield, Cox, and Aguilar led the field with 1:36.00 and featured a 22.75 anchor from Aguilar. The same foursome went 7:38.59 to crush their competitors in the 800 free relay, and then 3:31.80 to close the meet with a big win in the 400 free relay. Golden West placed second in both the 400 and 800 free relays, while Sierra was runner-up in the 200 free relay.

The Pirate quartet of Lauren Weins, Veseth, Clayfield, and Aguilar broke the state meet record en route to winning the 200 medley relay in 1:44.27; second-place San Mateo touched in 1:49.05. Weins, Veseth, Lexi Hill, and Cox won the 400 free relay with 3:54.77 over San Mateo (4:01.07) and Foothill (4:04.28).

Golden West’s Madison Varisco was a double-event winner, earning gold in both the 100 fly and 200 back. It was her second consecutive win in the fly, but it didn’t come easily. San Mateo’s Morgan Smith had a stellar second half, outsplitting Varisco by a half-second. Varisco’s front half more than made up for it, and she won 56.47 to 57.16. The backstroke was an even more thrilling finish; OCC’s Clayfield and San Mateo’s Vong both came back from a 3-second deficit at the 150 to challenge Varisco. In the end it was Varisco (2:02.24), Clayfield (2:02.53), and Vong (2:03.13).

Vong, meanwhile, won the first state title in College of San Mateo’s history when she upset defending champion Varisco, 54.93 to 55.43, and narrowly missed the state meet record of 54.86. Teammate Morgan Smith followed up the next day with a come-from-behind victory in the 200 fly, overtaking Chabot’s Madison Faulkner over the last 50 for a 2:07.62-to-2:09.58 blowout.

Susanna Gonzales of Golden West defended her title in the 1650 free, winning in 17:22.46, nearly 35 seconds faster than last year. Gonzales was runner-up in the 500 free; while she led for most of the race she couldn’t fend off OCC’s Cox at the end. Gonzales got her revenge in the 1650, though, as Cox finished third, 16 seconds behind. Second place went to Santa Rosa’s Jessica Lee (17:34.19); she was also third in the 500.

Layna Auchard of Foothill College repeated as 200 breast champion, although it was a hard-fought win. Auchard came back from a 3-second deficit at the 150 wall to out-touch OCC’s Veseth, 2:25.96 to 2:26.71. Auchard had missed out on the 100 breast title by .07, settling for second place with 1:06.14. OCC’s Paap picked up the bronze in both distances.

Pasadena City College’s Ariahn Givens was runner-up in the 100 free in 52.83 and narrowly missed the podium in the 50 free, although she broke the school record with her fourth-place 24.48. Emily Dunkerson of Riverside won 1-meter diving and placed second on the 3-meter board. Nicole Cox of Sierra won that event with 255.75 points.

Final Team Scores

1. Orange Coast College 569
2. Sierra College 337
3. Santa Rosa College 294
4. Santa Barbara City College 281
5. Golden West College 264
6. College of San Mateo 234
7. Las Positas College 232.50
8. Riverside City College 220
9. Foothill College 196
10. Grossmont College 148.5
11. Diablo Valley College 133.5
12. Pasadena City College 127
13. San Joaquin Delta College 117.5
14. Chabot College 99
15. Palomar College 90
16. De Anza College 55
17. San Diego Mesa College 52
18. T18 Allan Hancock College 48
19. T18 American River College 48
20. Mt San Antonio College 43