GOLDEN WEST STORMS HOME IN CONFERENCE SWIM CHAMPIONSHIPS

Mission Viejo, Calif. - The Golden West College Men's Swim team put together a furious array of racing performances at Saddleback College on Saturday on the final day of the Orange-Empire ConferenceChampionships. Orange Coast College eventually prevailed with a total of 868 points to capture the conference title. Close behind was Golden West with 811 points outdistancing rival Riverside City College grabbing 694 points. Cypress (360) and Saddleback (289) completed the scoring.

GWC started the finals down 73 points after two full days of competition. However five different Rustler milers claimed 65 points to narrow the Pirates' lead. Freshman Ryan Novak won the event with a time of 16:02.82 which will be the top seeded time at the State championships in two weeks. Daigo Fujita (16:53.83) and Taylor Juarez (16:58.17) both took off more than one minute off their best season times, both qualified for the State meet and finished fourth and fifth respectively. At this point, the Rustlers were now just 36 points from the overall lead in the team race.

The next race was the 100 individual medley. Boston Frost set the school record in the event for the second time that day with a mark of 55.05 good for fourth place. Teammates Gavin Little and Timothy Le were both in the championship final garnering points for their sixth and eighth place finishes. The lead narrowed to 30 points.

The highlight of the afternoon was the Rustlers doing very well in the 200 back. Jake M. Kiss won the event (his third win of the meet assuring his status as OEC Male Swimmer of the Year) in a top five State time of 1:53.19 and nabbing 20 points. Joao Goncalves finished second with a 1:56.13 time. Other Rustlers James Smith (2:03.90) and Jacob Stoddard (2:05.90) contributed to the total of 65 points in the event. This collective effort was enough to boost the Rustlers past the Pirates 672-649.

The lead was short-lived as the Pirates showed off their strength in the 100 free by scoring 79 points in the next event. The team score moved to 728-682.

With events dwindling to the finish, Golden West outpointed the Pirates in the 200 breaststroke led by freshman Bobby Wright who moved up two places from the prelims and dropped six seconds to finish fifth with a time of 2:13.39. Michael Rodgers, Timothy Le and Pablo De Souza also sparkled to narrow the score 752-728.

The last individual event was the 200 fly. To bring the meet to an even more exciting climax, the Rustlers needed some outstanding efforts from their four scorers in the event. Taylor Juarez (1:55.38) and Jack Wright (1:55.99) were aggressive with their racing strategies, both qualifying for State as they went second and third overall. Neven Cerkez and Cade Winston both dropped time in the consolation finals but with OCC getting a win and three other championship finalists, they picked up 11 more points than their district rivals.

Now, the only hope for a conference title for the Rustlers would only happen if they won the 400 freestyle relay, the meet's last event and that the Pirates would be disqualified on a rules infraction. The Pirates stayed legal, won the final event but not without the Rustlers close on
their heels the entire race. GWC swam a seasonal best time of 3:09.79 with Novak, M. Kiss, J.Wright and Goncalves putting forth an admirable effort.

Head Coach Tracy Maurer was all smiles by the conclusion of the meet. "I have no complaints after this competition. We will be taking ten swimmers to the State meet, Our time improvements were epic. We gave the conference all we had and were pleased with our efforts
all three days. For a team that depends heavily on our water polo athletes, their pedigree of being State champions in their primary sport was apparent in their incredible performances these past three days." Maurer was complimentary of the host Saddleback College as the meet
was well-organized and gave all of the athletes competing the best chance for success. "The Orange-Empire Conference is deep in talent. Racing this weekend against all of the other schools here gives us a real advantage in two weeks as we head up to Santa Rosa," stated Maurer.