Pirate Swimmers Hanging Tough at WSC Championships

The Ventura College men's and women's swim teams continued competition on day two of the three-day Western State Conference Championships on Friday in Bakersfield with both teams maintaining a fourth place standing. Adrianna Bese provided the best finish of the meet to this point for the women with her silver medal in the 100-yard breast stroke while Cooper Fuchs continued his strong meet with a second place finish in the 100-yard backstroke to lead the men.

Bese turned in a time of 1:09.98 to claim second place in the race, three seconds out of first and nearly a full second ahead of third. She was joined by Gracelyn De La Cruz, Sarah Rundle and Kelsey Golden for fourth place in the 200-yard medley relay. 

Sabrina Cherfane was fifth in the 100-yard butterfly while Rundle finished seventh in that final. Katie Heath touched in seventh in the 400-yard individual medley and De La Cruz came in sixth in the 100-yard backstroke, with Golden touching in 12th. Christina Jimenez, Katia Flores and Rabin Fallon finished in 10th, 12th and 14th, respectively.

In the final event of the day for the women, the quartet of Cherfane, Flores, Rundle and Jimenez finished fourth in the 800-yard freestyle relay.

For the second straight day, Fuchs posted the best swim of the day for the VC men. He came in second in the 100-yard backstroke with a mark of 52.84, less than half a second behind first place. Joseph Padilla was fifth in that final. 

Fuchs also helped two relays earn points. He was joined by Padilla, David Peterson and Joseph MacDonald in the 200-yard medley relay for a fifth place finish. In the 800-yard freestyle relay, Fuchs, MacDonald, Hunter Massey and Peterson finished in fourth place.

Brian Hicks earned a third place finish in the 400-yard IM, with John Collins, Nathan Cohen and Frank Lopez coming in eighth, 11th and 13th place, respectively. Peterson was fourth in the 200-yard freestyle, while MacDonald was sixth, Massey finished eighth, and Anthony Amezcua came in 11th.  Frank Lopez earned points with a 15th place finish in the 100-yard butterfly.

Santa Barbara was in first place in the women's standings with 423 points with Bakersfield (372 points), Cuesta (317) and Ventura (289) following in the standings. Santa Monica (225) was in fifth  place after Friday.

On the men's side, Santa Monica was tops with 450 points, followed by Cuesta (428.5) points), Bakersfield (345), VC (325) and Canyons (254.5).

The championships conclude on Saturday April 21 in Bakersfield.