Costa Mesa, Calif. - Orange Coast College was the site of the first Orange Empire Conference Swim and Dive Invitational on Friday, March 3. OCC won by a wide margin amassing 810 points, but Golden West totaled 494 points to edge Riverside's 493 points, Saddleback (314), Cypress (68) and Fullerton (66) rounded out the team scoring.

The Rustlers were led by three-time event winner Srboljub Filipović. He led wire to wire in all three races in the 500 free (5:00.70), the 100 breast, (59.99) and the 200 breast, (2:18.52). In addition, Filipović was part of two second place relays. The 200 free relay team of Keiden Sutanto, Filipovic, Tommy Kelly and Thomas Woodley timed out in 1:30.16. The 200-medley relay of Eamon Hennessey, Filipovic, Sutanto and Kelly put up a time of 1:40.30.

Other top three finishers included Kelly in the 100-breast as he finished second with a 1:04.03 effort. Nolan Chomin, the Rustlers' top distance swimmer, put in his first mile race of the season and claimed second with a 17:14.20 result. Another positive note was that each of the 21 GWC swimmers scored points in at least one of their individual events.

Associate Head Coach Tracy Maurer was pleased with the team's swims overall. He noted that the favorable weather and a week of training in their home pool after recent lengthy repairs were completed lent to a more productive overall effort by the Rustler men.

The team completes the third of three consecutive Friday meets as it will head out to Riverside City College for the RCC invite on March 10, with a 9am start.