Ventura Swim Teams Both Finish 4th at WSC Championships

Both the Ventura College men's and women's swim teams finished fourth in the Western State Conference Championships that were completed Saturday in Bakersfield. Adrianna Bese and Sarah Rundle each had medal-winning performances for the women on the final day of the three-day meet while David Peterson, Cooper Fuchs and Hunter Massey turned in medal-worthy performances for the men.

Peterson turned in the best performance of the day for the VC men, placing second in the 200-yard butterfly. John Collins was ninth and Frank Lopez finished 10th in that event.  Peterson also led off the fourth place 400-yard freestyle relay team that included Massey, Joseph MacDonald and Fuchs.

Fuchs earned a bronze medal finish in the 100-yard freestyle while MacDonald finished ninth. Massey turned in a bronze medal performance in the 1650-yard freestyle with Anthony Amezcua, Nathan Cohen and Julian Larios touched in fourth, fifth and 10th place respectively.

Brian Hicks finished fourth in the 200-yard back stroke while Joseph Padilla was fifth and Ira Irvani was 14th.

For the women, Bese had the best performance of the meet's final day, a silver medal in the 200-yard breast stroke. Meanwhile, Rundle earned a bronze medal in the 200-yard butterfly.

Christina Jimenez led a trio of Pirate place-winners in the 1650-yard freestyle. She came in fifth place and Tallulah Lund-Sidi was ninth and Rabin Fallon was 12th. Katia Flores touched in seventh place in the 200-yard backstroke and Gracelyn De La Cruz and Kelsey Golden were eighth and 14th, respectively, in the 100-yard freestyle. 

Cuesta won the men's competition with 638.5 points and Santa Monica was the runner-up with 609. Bakersfield (532 points) was third followed by VC with 497 and Canyons with 355.5.

Santa Barbara claimed the women's championship with626 points, followed by Bakersfield (535 points), Cuesta (445), Ventura (389) and Hancock (314).

The teams now await the reveal of the state championship qualifiers. The CCCAA State Championships will be held Thursday May 3 through Saturday May 5 at De Anza College in Cupertino.