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Golden West - Women's 800 Free Relay State Champions

Golden West - Women's 800 Free Relay State Champions

TOP GOLDEN WEST MEN SCORE 4 WINS;
SANTA ROSA WOMEN LEAP INTO FIRST ON DAY 2

The Golden West College men's swim team seems poised to complete a third straight state crown after recording four event wins Friday on Day 2 of the CCCAA State Championship at East Los Angeles College.

The Rustlers had three different swimmers win individual events behind Gabriel Hernandez (400 individual medley), Bradley Toland (100 butterfly), and Jeremy Grden (100 breaststroke). GWC then won the 800 freestyle relay to cap the evening and now lead the points standings by 67.5 over Diablo Valley.

Santa Rosa Junior College picked up one event victory by Christine Lewis (100 breaststroke), scored 39 points in middle place diving, and picked up a second in the 200 medley relay and third in the 800 freestyle relay. The points started adding up and at night's end the Bear Cubs lead the women's standings by 57 points over Orange Coast.

Day 2 featured a state meet record in the prelims set by DVC's Kelsey Leonard, who shattered the 200 freestyle mark (1:50.19) and later collected the gold medal title in the event. In a debut event to the state meet, the women's 400 individual medley was won by Santa Barbara's Rachelle Visser (see event by event capsules later in release).

WOMEN STANDINGS: 1. Santa Rosa JC 336.5, 2. Orange Coast 279.5, 3. Diablo Valley 258, 4. Golden West 238, 5. Pasadena CC 173, 6. Grossmont 172, 7. Sierra 156, 8. Santa Barbara CC 144, 9. El Camino 112, 10. Cuesta 104.  

MEN STANDINGS: 1. Golden West 387.5, 2. Diablo Valley 320, 3. Sierra 261.5, 4. American River 232, 5. Riverside CC 190, 6. Ventura 174, 7. San Diego Mesa 143, 8. Orange Coast 138, 9. Mt. San Antonio 116, 10. Grossmont 115.  

Event 13: Women's 200 Medley Relay: 1. Orange Coast, 1:46.47 (Alexa Clayfield, Nacinda Paap, Rebecca Aguilar, Kessy Hickey)

The Pirates roared from behind and finally caught 2nd place Santa Rosa in a photo finish just edging the Bear Cubs by .08 of a second. The key to the victory was the fast splits by third leg butterfly swimmer Aguilar (24.81) and the anchor freestyle of Hickey at 24.26 better than the SRJC anchor Megan Warren at 24.41. Diablo Valley took third in 1:47.51.

Event 14: Men's 200 Medley Relay: 1. Diablo Valley, 1:32.03 (Brandon James, Dominic Baldwin, Monty Randall, Jacob Frigard)

James with another blowout backstroke swim to open the race (22.75) helped DVC keep the lead throughout. Golden West used a thrilling 19.84 anchor free leg by Bradley Toland that gave the Rustlers second at 1:32.21, just .18 behind DVC. Sierra was third in 1:33.57

Event 15: Women's 400 Individual Medley: 1. Rachelle Visser, Santa Barbara CC, 4:31.73‐‐*STATE MEET RECORD*

Visser is a double IM champion as she wins the introductory event to the state meet by 12 seconds over second place Thuy Phi (De Anza, 4:42.91). Phi kept up with Visser's pace for half of the race before Visser kicked it up a notch to win comfortably. Midori Dobson of Santa Rosa was third in 4:43.19.

Event 16: Men's 400 Individual Medley: 1. Gabriel Hernandez, Golden West, 3:54.49Hernandez can't match his state meet record win of a year ago here (3:53.20) but does become a repeat winner in a dominating race. The sophomore won by nearly 13 seconds over second place finisher Phillip Wright (Mt. San Antonio, 4:07.04). Dominic Baldwin (Diablo Valley) was third at 4:08.31.

Event 17: Women's 100 Butterfly: 1. Madison Varisco, Golden West, 56.38      Varisco came off the block strong with a 26.17 split and had the fastest final 50 as well in defeating Cuesta's Racheal Gruetzmacher (58.09, second) and prelim top seed Miranda Howell (Santa Rosa, 58.16, third).

Event 18: Men's 100 Butterfly: 1. Bradley Toland, Golden West, 48.59

Toland swam out to a 22.29 opening 50, but had to stretch the hand at the wall to edge Diablo Valley's oncoming Monty Randall, who took second just .02 (48.61) behind the Rustler. Sierra's Andrew Murch was third in 48.98.

Event 19: Women's 200 Freestyle: 1. Kelsey Leonard, Diablo Valley, 1:50.39

*State Meet Record*‐‐Leonard 1:50.19 time in the morning prelims

Leonard keeps collecting the hardware with her fifth individual state gold medal in the last two years. Leonard shattered a 6‐year‐old state meet record held by Anne Scott (American River, 1:50.34) by a .15 of a second earlier in the day. Leonard tried but could not beat that mark although she led from start to finish. Orange Coast's Rebecca Aguilar was second (1:52.75) and DVC teammate Laura Woods took third (1:54.75).

Event 20: Men's 200 Freestyle: 1. Gabriel Miranda, Santa Monica, 1:38.65

Miranda trailed leader Brenton Sayers of American River until the last 50 when Miranda flew in a 25.55 leg to capture the title. Sayers took second in 1:40.05 while Golden West's Dalton Kenefick placed third in 1:40.99.

Event 21: Women's 100 Breaststroke: 1. Christine Lewis, Santa Rosa, 1:05.10   
Lewis led throughout and held off host school East Los Angeles' Yingfei Zhang to take the title by .29 of a second. Zhang placed second (1:05.39) and Foothill's Layna Auchard was third in 1:06.97.

Event 22: Men's 100 Breaststroke: 1. Jeremy Grden, Golden West, 57.34

The difference between first and fifth in this race was just .40 of a second as Grden barely held off Jacob Altree (Mt. San Antonio, second, 57.36), Brandon Saliba (Santa Monica, third, 57.55), Adrian Deloffre (Riverside, fourth, 57.65) and Hogan Inscore (El Camino, fifth, 57.74). Grden had the fastest opening 50 at 26.26 but actually performed the sixth best final 50 and still cashed in for the title.

Event 23: Women's 100 Backstroke: 1. Madison Varisco, Golden West, 56.60

Always a close race, this was no different as Varisco needed a final push in the last 10 yards to defeat Santa Rosa's Miranda Howell by .07 (56.67). It was Varisco's second win of the evening after capturing the 100 butterfly. Orange Coast's Alexa Clayfield was third (57.08).

Event 24: Men's 100 Backstroke: 1. Brandon James, Diablo Valley, 48.32

James had already broken the state meet record in this swim during DVC's record‐setting 400 medley relay at 47.90 last night. His encore would have still beaten the old meet record, but not enough to catch his Thursday performance. Ventura's Mitchell Ongstad was second in 49.93 and San Mateo's Kawei Tan third in 52.15.

Event 25: Women's 800 Freestyle Relay: 1. Golden West, 7:53.18 (Madison Varisco, Suzanna Gonzales, Melissa Thorn, Raney Remme)

The Rustlers have always been strong in the longer relay and did not disappoint here with a 3.60 seconds win over Orange Empire Conference rival Orange Coast (7:56.78, second). Santa Rosa placed third at 8:00.78. Naturally, GWC was the only squad that had three swimmers that broke the 2‐minute mark in their splits. OCC had the fastest individual split turned in by Rebecca Aguilar (1:53.51).

Event 26: Men's 800 Freestyle Relay: 1. Golden West, 6:46.86 (Gabriel Hernandez, Mark Olsen, Jeremy Grden, Dalton Kenefick)

Golden West built on its team standings lead with its fourth event win of the evening, holding off Diablo Valley (6:47.80, second), Riverside (6.48.53, third) and Sierra (6:48.72) in the long free relay. Kenefick showed his anchor strength with a 1:40.51 final split although Sierra swimmer Lucas Hastie was flying at 1:39.93.

Event 27: Women's 3‐Meter Dive: 1. Emily Dunkerson, Riverside CC, 235.00 Dunkerson, who missed out on the 1‐meter title by less than one point on Thursday, wins the 3‐meter board title. Las Positas diver Valentina Banbalinardo took second with 215.55 points while Orange Coast's Candice Buck had her second third place medal in two days with 211.10 points.

Event 28: Men's 1‐Meter Dive: 1. Zachary Yokohama, American River, 266.80    Four different divers ended up winning titles in the two genders as Zachary Yokohama captures the 1‐meter board gold medal, edging out second‐place Austin Foote of Sierra, who scored 260.80. Cabrillo's Max Glynn made it an all NorCal top three, scoring 254.60.

Yokohama used a brilliant final reverse 1‐1/2 with 1‐1/2 twist to score a whopping 54.60 points to cap the triumph. He led after his second dive and never looked back.

15‐5‐1‐SWIM