Golden West College traveled out to Riverside City College for the second of two Orange-Empire Conference Invitationals this past Friday. A decision a few years back to ditch the dual meets in favor of having all six teams come together twice before the conference finals at the end of the year has paid off for all the teams involved. As with the first invite, the Golden West Men's team finished third overall with 526 points. Orange Coast amassed 799 and RCC garnered 639. Cypress (245) edged Saddleback (150) and Fullerton did not field a men's team.

 

With more swimmers in each event, swimmers get better competition. The Rustlers stepped up with many top four finishes over the course of the day. There were two relays. The 400 freestyle relay was the first event of the day. GWC dropped two seconds off its entry time with Jake M. Kiss, Jacob Stoddard, Jack Wright and Ryan Novak coming in third overall at 3:18.84.The final event of the day was the 400 medley with Bobby Wright, M. Kiss, Daigo Fujita and Novak nailed down a third place finish at 3:49.58.

 

The first half of the meet had Jake M. Kiss just got touched out for first in the 200 individual medley by OCC's Evan Lim 1:59.58/1:59.89. Taylor Juarez picked up fourth place points in the 500 free completing the event in 5:04.15. The 400 IM had M. Kiss won the event in good fashion (4:14.86) while teammate Daigo Fujita, third overall, dropped time (4:27.65). Golden West claimed the top spot in the 200 free with Ryan Novak winning by over three seconds (1:45.22). Fujita and Jacob Stoddard went 2-3 in the 100 back to complete the first half of the meet.

 

Jack Wright just missed the school record in the 100 individual medley, grabbing fourth overall at 57.52. The 200 back featured a 1-2-4 finish from M. Kiss (2:00.37), Novak (2:03.67) and Stoddard (2:16.94). Bobby Wright had a successful debut in the 200 breaststroke in 2:24.31 to pick up third overall. Juarez snatched fourth in the 200 fly (2:01.59) and the final individual event, the 1650 freestyle saw Novak drop 23 seconds to a 16:16.47 mark in the mile to win the event. Teammate Jack Wright put in a worthy effort (17:42.50) to gain third place.

 

Head Coach Tracy Maurer understood the significance of the meet. "This was a good break in training today. The guys have been putting in a lot of work so to have them swim as close to, if not surpass, their entry times was a good sign. The lads are a tough bunch."

 

Golden West complete the regular season with an invitational at Orange Coast College April 4-5 before the OEC championships in mid-April at Saddleback College. The California State Championships are two weeks after that competition.