Ventura Men Capture WSC #1, Women 3rd

The Pirates' men's and women's swimming and diving teams had a solid performance Friday at the Western State Conference No. 1 meet at Santa Monica Friday with the men winning the five-team competition and the women coming in third. Cameron Habib led the VC men with a pair of gold medal performances while Ella Montano also finished first in a pair of individual events. Luigi Travi, Merrick Giles and Michael Soho also won events for the men.

The men's relay teams were the stars of the day winning both races by a combined 11.16 seconds. Giles, Nick Santander, Soho, and Habib won the first event of the day, the 200-yard medley relay, in 1:44.70, 4.31 seconds faster then the runners-up. The same quartet, in a different order, captured the final event of the meet, the 200-yard freestyle relay, with a mark of 1:27.26, 6.85 seconds ahead of second place and less than a second off the VC school record of 1:27.24.

Habib also touched first in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events with marks of 22.47 and 49.24, respectively. Giles, meanwhile, won the 100-yard butterfly at 59.21, 2.21 seconds ahead of the silver medal finisher, and he was second in the 200-yard freestyle. Soho also won gold in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:10.19 and was third in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Luigi Travi was the Pirates' other gold medal winner, winning the 100-yard backstroke in 58.41, over a second faster than second place. He also runner-up in the 200-yard backstroke and finished fourth in the 50-yard free. 

Santander won the silver medal behind Habib in the both the 50 and 100-yard freestyle races. Meanwhile Stephen McNaughten was second in the 3m diving and also earned points in the 1650-yard freestyle. Alex Tamayo won a bronze medal in the 200-yard breast stroke and was sixth in the 100-yard breaststroke while Carlos Gonzalez was third in the 1650 freestyle along with seventh in the 200-yard free and the 200-yard IM. Kyle Quach medalled in the 100-yard backstroke, finishing third.

Sammie Abarca finished fifth in the 200-yard breaststroke and Fabian Morales was eighth in the 200-yard IM.

VC's women's 200-yard freestyle relay team of Montano, Sarah Glassman, Caitlyn Hilgenberg and Cassidy Yanca also Captured the gold in the meet finale in 1:51.45, out-touching the runners-up by .02 seconds. Ava Carey, Montano, Hilgenberg and Yanca earned a bronze in the 200-yard medley relay.

Montano won a pair of firsts in the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke events, with a times of 1:12.38 and 2:40.34, respectively. She won the 100-yard race by 3.32 seconds.

Yanca won silver in the 200-yard freestyle and bronze in the 1650-yard free while Carey was second in the 200-yard IM and fourth in the 200-yard backstroke. Glassman produced a runner-up finish in the 3m diving and was fifth in the 50-yard freestyle. Meanwhile Hilgenberg finished fourth in a pair of individual events, the 200-yard backstroke and the 100-yard free.

Ruby Lopez earned points in sixth place in the 100-yard freestyle while Gabrielle MacNeill was seventh in the 200-yard free and the 100-yard back.

The Pirate men totaled 164 points to win the meet, followed by LA Valley with 132. Santa Monica was a distant third with 86 points.

The VC women earned 100 points to come in behind LA Valley (165 points) and Santa Monica (109 points).

The teams next travel to the Mt. San Antonio Invitational on Friday and Saturday, March 1 and 2.