Swim & Dive Competes at WSC #3, PCC Invite

Ventura's men's and women's swimming and diving teams bookended Spring Break with the Western State Conference #3 meet at Canyons March 31 followed by the Pasadena Invitational April 6-7. The Pirates women finished first in the WSC competition, defeating three other WSC foes as both squads posted some impressive numbers in each meet. Shelby Jackson and Allison Harris have led the VC women while Carlos Gonzalez has been solid for the Pirate men.

On March 31, The Pirate women finished first of four competing teams at the WSC #3 meet in Santa Clarita. VC totaled 147 team points to distance themselves from second place LA Valley with 92. Bakersfield was third with 56 followed by Canyons (48) and Citrus (46).

The Pirates' women divers swept the competition in both the 1m and 3m events. Harris produced a pair of golds, scoring 211.60 in the 1m and 227.65 in the 3m. Kendal Santos was second in each event while Lauren Pierce earned bronze in each.

In the swimming events, Jackson won a pair of individual golds, finishing first in the 200-yard butterfly in 2:28.37 and touching first in the 200-yard backstroke in 2:30.84. Allison Donnelly had a good performance winning the 400-yard individual medley in 5:14.13. She won silver in the 1650-yard freestyle.  Ahna Davis finished second in the 200-yard back and fourth in the 50-yard free while Cassidy Yanca earned bronze in the 100-yard free and was fourth in the 1650-yard free. Santos also fifth in the 800-yard back.

VC's relays were also solid with the 400-yard medley relay team of Donnelly, Stephany Dijar Jackson and Davis won gold with a mark of 4:33.0 while Michelle Norman, Emily Baughn, Isabel Iglesias and Yanca came in fifth. Donnelly, Yanca, Jackson and Davis also won the 800-yard freestyle relay, touching in 9:06.45.

Ventura's men's team, meanwhile, came in third with 91 points, behind Canyons and LA Valley with 109.5 points each.

Michael Andrews won the 1m diving competition with a six-dive score of 194.10 while Ayden Jacobus finished third. Jacobus then claimed the 3m event with a 178.15 score while Andrews won silver. 

Carlos Gonzales won bronze in the 200-yard backstroke and George Bonilla was third in the 400-yard IM. Sebastian Ayala touched in fourth place in the 200-yard fly and Jonathan Fleming was right behind in fifth. Gonzales, Janson Cunningham, Ayala and Rafael Rodriguez were third in the 800-yard freestyle relay.

Ventura completed Spring Break competing at the Pasadena Invitational, held this year at East Los Angeles, the site of the state championships in early May. The Pirate women were sixth out of the 13 teams competing and the men finished eighth of 11 teams.

For the men, Jacobus was second in the 1m diving and third in the 3m event while Andrews was fourth and sixth, respectively. Gonzales finished fifth in the 500-yard free and was eight in the 200-yard back. Meanwhile, Gonzales, Hunter Johnson, Bonilla and Rodriguez came in eighth in the 400-yard medley relay.

Harris continued her strong season for the women, winning both the 1m (237.55 points) and 3m diving (216.50 points). Santos came in third and second and Pierce sixth and fourth, respectively.

Donnelly had a strong day finishing fourth in the 200-yard back, fifth in the 200-yard IM and sixth in the 500-yard free. Davis was seventh in the 200-yard back and Dijar touched in seventh in the 100-yard breast stroke.

The VC divers will next compete at the WSC/SoCal Championships on April 14 and 15 at El Camino and the swimmers next take to the pool at the WSC Championships at LA Valley April 20-22.