GOLDEN WEST MEN’S SWIMMERS MEASURE UP AT LAST PRE-CONFERENCE MEET

Costa Mesa, Calif. - The men's swim team from Golden West crossed town on Friday to swim at Orange Coast College, the site of the upcoming Orange-Empire Conference championships and the State Meet. A mix of teams from around California took advantage of the opportunity which helped create a very competitive environment. The host Pirates finished the day overall in first place compiling 596 points. DeAnza College brought 32 swimmers from the men's squad and outpointed the Rustlers 575-544 to grab second place. Santa Monica College (484), Clovis (319) and San Diego Miramar (280) completed the top six teams.

 

The format of the meet was to have every event offered from the three day finals format in the space of six hours. All swimmers were also allowed to swim up to five individual events and up to four relays made the day where overall fitness and proper warm-up/warm-down key to being successful. There was a score of Golden West athletes that stepped up with solid results.

 

Leading off the meet, the 200 free relay team of Ryder Tonkovich, Ryan Novak, Matt Wolf and Wyatt Mitchell finished second (1:29.13) bolstered by Mitchell's blazing 21.41 anchor leg. Avery Pellicano won the 500 free easily in 4:50.36. Novak showed off his versatility by placing 4th in the 200 IM in 2:01.21. Tonkovich also finished 4th in the 50 free going 21.91. The 400 medley relay grouping of Novak, Wolf, Pellicano and Mitchell picked up 3rd place in a time of 3:47.42.

The second third of the meet started with Novak picking up second place in the 400 IM completing the race in 4:21.87. Pellicano popped a 53.84 100 fly for 4th place. The duo of Daigo Fujita and Matt Wolf both went lifetime bests in the 200 free, going 1:51.34 and 1:51.90 respectively to finish fourth and fifth in the event. Tonkovich did more than dabble in the 100 back as he went a lifetime best in the 100 back (58.04) to nab another fourth overall. The 800 free relay was won by the Rustlers as they dropped over ten seconds (7:17.96) as Pellicano, Novak, Gavin Abbott and Mitchell held off OCC.

 

The final third of the meet got going again after a ten minute break. The event of the day for GWC was the 100 individual medley where Novak, who had just broken the school record two weeks earlier, went head to head with Pellicano. A great race in which both swimmers bested the old record by over a second but it was Avery just out-touching Ryan 53.30-53.51. Pellicano finished the 200 back in 3rd place (2:01.63). Tonkovich smoked his 100 free to a time of 48.33, good for third overall. The final individual event was the 200 fly where the Rustlers scored 2nd and 3rd place points as Novak went a personal best of 1:58.97 and Taylor Juarez, who scored in the same event at last year's State meet, just missed getting under the two minute barrier with a 2:00.11 mark. To complete the day, the quartet of Fujita, Pellicano, Tonkovich and Wolf went 3:22 to finish third overall.

 

"Boy, that was a long day and a challenge for everyone at the meet," stated Head Coach Tracy Maurer. "We were pleased with the efforts of our guys. We passed the tests today with flying colors."