Ventura Men 1st, Women 3rd at WSC #1

The VC men's swimming and diving team finished in first place and the Pirate women were third at the Western State Conference #1 meet hosted by VC at the Ventura Aquatic Center on Friday. Cooper Fuchs, Marcel Hurtubise and Deon Crilly each had two individual golds for the men and Jake Peters brought home one first place finish to lead the way. Alli Hopkins and Adrianna Bese each placed in two individual events to lead the women.

The Pirate men came in first of the four competing teams with 62.5 points followed by Canyons at 52, Bakersfield with 48 and Cuesta with 23.5. The VC women, meanwhile totaled 40 points, behind Bakersfield (60) and Cuesta (57), and ahead of Hancock (28) and Canyons (1).

Crilly led a trio of Ventura divers in sweeps of both the 1m and 3m competitions. Crilly won both while Rawley Mathis was second in the 1m and third in the 3m, and Izaiah Martinez was third in the 1m and 2nd in the 3m.

Fuchs claimed first place in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100 yard backstroke and Hurtubise won gold in the 200-yard freestyle and the 200-yard butterfly. Jake Peters also won an individual gold with a first place finish in the 100-yard freestyle.

Hunter Massey earned points in two events with a third place in the 1,650-yard free and a fifth in the 100-yard free while Anthony Amezcua was second in the mile swim. Tobias Hynes claimed silver in the 50-yard free and Zachariah Ziegler tied for the bronze in the same event. Christian Foster finished third in the 200-yard freestyle. The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Massey, Amezcua, Peters, and Garrett Gallagher also finished in third place.

For the Ventura women, the 200-yard freestyle relay team of Caitlin Burditt, Gracelyn De La Cruz, Bese and Ary Martinez claimed the gold while the 200-yard medley relay team of De La Cruz, Bese, Martinez and Kaitlin Reagan won silver. 

Hopkins was second in the 200-yard freestyle and fourth in the 100-yard free and Bese won bronze in the 300-yard individual medley and in the 100-yard breast stroke. Reagan also claimed second in the 50-yard free and De La Cruz was second in the 100-yard backstroke. Burditt finished fourth in the 50-yard free and Martinez was fifth in the 200-yard IM.

The Pirate swimmers next travel to the Cuesta Invitational on Saturday March 9.