Pirate Swimmers Compete at WSC #2 in Bakersfield

The Ventura College swim teams competed in the Western State Conference #2 meet in Bakersfield Saturday with the men finishing third of the eight competing teams and the women placing fourth of 10 teams. Cooper Fuchs led the charge on the men's side with three top-8 finishes, including first place in the 50-yard freestyle and two second place finishes. Adrianna Bese, Christina Jimenez, Kelsey Golden and Gracelyn De La Cruz all recorded a pair of top-8 finishes for the Pirate women.

Fuchs led the way for VC's men. in addition to winning the 50-yard freestyle,he recorded runner-up finishes in the 100-yard free and 200-yard backstroke. David Peterson had a solid day with a third in the 200-yard butterfly and fifth in the 200-yard free while Anthony Amezcua came in fourth in the 100-yard free a fifth in the 500-yard free. Joseph Padilla also produced a pair of top-8 results, fifth in the 200-yard back stroke and eighth in the 200-yard breast stroke and Nathan Cohen was sixth in the 400-yard individual medley and seventh in the 500-yard free. Hunter Massey, Joseph MacDonald and Brian Hicks all had seventh place finishes in the 100-yard free, 100-yard free and the 200-yard backstroke, respectively.

The men's 400-yard medley relay team of Hicks, Padilla, Peterson and Massey and the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Amezcua, Massey, Hicks and McDonald both came in sixth.

Host Bakersfield won the men's competition with 344.5 points, followed by Cuesta with 312.5 and Ventura at 283 points. Santa Monica was fourth with 266.

Bese led the women with fourth place in the 100-yard breast stroke and sixth in the 100-yard butterfly. Jimenez and Golden each had a fifth and a sixth place finish, Jimenez in the 1000-yard and 500-yard freestyle events and Golden in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events, respectively. De la Cruz was sixth in the 200-yard free and eighth in the 100-yard backstroke. Katia Flores and Sabrina Cherfane each touched in seventh place in the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard butterfly.

Golden, Bese, Sarah Rundle and De La Cruz came in fourth in the 200-yard medley relay while Flores, Tallulah Lund-Sidi, Jimenez and Katie Heath were sixth in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

The Pirates totaled 235 points, good for fourth place behind Santa Barbara (331.5), Bakersfield (297) and Cuesta (266). Citrus was fifth with 203 points.

The Pirates next hit the pool on Friday March 30 at the WSC #3 at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo.