COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Palomar Ends Orange Coast’s Hold on Swimming Title

Palomar won the men’s and women’s Orange Empire Conference swimming championships Saturday at Saddleback College.

For the women, this ended the 11-year OEC championship reign for Orange Coast, which finished fifth with 341.5 points. Palomar topped the field with 527.5 points.

Saddleback was the county’s top finisher. The Gaucho men, who were second with 678 points, were led by Darren Nash (first in the 200-yard breaststroke), Philip Lawrence (first in the 200 backstroke), Brent Miller (first in the 1,650 freestyle). The women, led by Maiko Shigeeda (50 butterfly) were third with 407 points.

In the South Coast Conference swimming championships:

Rustlers win both titles--Golden West easily won both titles at the two-day event at Belmont Plaza. The men’s team finished with 925.5 points, followed by El Camino with 567. Rafeal Guijarro won the 200 butterfly (1:54.63) and Jan Gendlin won the 1,650 freestyle (16:15.6) for Golden West.

The Golden West women’s team outscored El Camino by 92 points. Kate Kilgallen took first in the 100 backstroke (1:04.07).

In Orange Empire Conference baseball:

Cypress 6, Golden West 5 (10)--David Trentine’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th inning drove in Israel Gonzalez with the winning run for Cypress (30-10-1, 15-6). Trentine was two for four with one run scored and the game-winning RBI. Luke Fox was two for three with one run scored and two walks for Golden West (11-30, 3-19).

Rancho Santiago 3, Orange Coast 2--David Mallas’ two-out single in the ninth inning drove in Keith Cowley with the winning run for Rancho Santiago (32-9, 16-6). Orange Coast drops to 21-19 overall and 11-10 in conference.

In the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament:

Saddleback duo advance--The Saddleback doubles team of Brian Matek and Billy Casas defeated Rin Torres and Brian Swansiger of Chabot, 6-4, 6-3, to advance to the doubles finals today at Libby Park.