Pirates make off with matching championships

PASADENA ? Orange Coast College swept the California Community College swimming and diving championships, winning the men’s and women’s titles Saturday at Pasadena City College.

The Pirates men scored 508 points in the three-day meet, 43 points ahead of defending champion Ventura College. The women had a closer finish, tallying 385.5 points to Sierra College’s 373.

It was the first state championship for the men since 1994, and the first for the women since 2003. Prior to that, the women had won seven consecutive state titles from 1989 to 1995.

The Pirates did it without getting a victory on the final day of the meet at Pasadena City College. In fact, the women won just one event ? the 200-yard freestyle relay on the opening day.

The men had two victories in the meet, Thursday’s 200 freestyle relay and Friday’s 200 medley relay. Adam Jones, Damien Bernard, Josh Knight and Michael Fessenden swam on the latter relay, which won in a time of 1 minute, 33.22 seconds.

On Saturday, Andrew Simo had the best individual finish for the men, third in the 200 backstroke in 1:54.90. He was followed by Jones in fourth, Miles Sonnenfeld in fifth and Brian Givens in seventh.

The OCC men also took third in the 400 freestyle relay Saturday as Kevin McCoy, Fessenden, Simo and David Hwang finished in 3:06.99.

Friday, Nicholas Sullivan, Simo, Bernard and Knight placed third in the 800 freestyle relay in 7:06.88. Justin Taylor also took third in one-meter diving.

Other top eight-finishers for the OCC men were Sullivan (eighth in the 400 individual medley), Bernard (sixth in the 100 butterfly), Jones (fifth in the 100 backstroke), Sonnenfeld (sixth in the 100 backstroke), Fessenden (sixth in the 100 freestyle), Hwang (eighth in the 100 freestyle) and Nathan Wilcox (seventh in the 200 butterfly)

For the women, Jackie Palmero finished second in the 100 butterfly in 58.34, a day after second-place finishes in the 50 butterfly (26.36) and 50 backstroke (27.68).

The Pirates were third in the meet-ending 400 freestyle relay, with Tuesday Schellinger, Ashley Maher, Hailey Barker and Palmero finishing in 3:39.66.

OCC also had fourth-place finishes in the 200 medley relay (1:54.44) and 800 freestyle relay (8:09.86). Natasha Bustard, Jeanette Demeneces, Tiffany Gubala and Schellinger swam the medley relay, and Palmero, Schellinger, Maher and Barker filled the freestyle relay.

Other top-eight finishes for the women came from Laura Demeneces (eighth in the 200 individual medley), Barker (seventh in the 200 freestyle), Schellinger (eighth in the 200 freestyle), Maher (seventh in the 100 freestyle), Jenny Black (seventh in three-meter diving) and Jeanette Demeneces (seventh in the 100 breaststroke).dpt-occswim07.IMGGraphicInfoHE1QN9DM20060507HE1QN9DMNo Caption