Jacobus, Montano Shine for Pirates at State Meet

VC sophomore Ayden Jacobus and freshman Ella Montano each turned in outstanding performances at the 3C2A State Swimming & Diving Championships Thursday through Saturday at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. Jacobus was named the Co-Men's Diver of the Year with a gold and a silver medal while Montano placed in three events, each in the A-Final. Freshman Wyatt Dingman also placed in both diving events for Ventura at the championships.

Jacobus earned the gold medal in the 3m diving event on Thursday afternoon.  He totaled 338.50 points to win the competition by 18.25 points after he led by just four points entering the final round of dives. He captured the silver medal on Friday in the 1m event recording 230.65 points to finish behind first place by a 13-point margin. He was named the Co-Men's Diver of the Year following the completion of competition on Saturday while VC diving coach Ann Wright was also named Co-Men's Diving Coach of the Year.

Montano also had an outstanding three days, qualifying for the A-Finals in all three events in which she competed. On Thursday she finished seventh in the 50-yard freestyle, touching with a time of 24.91, 1.29 seconds behind the gold medal winner.  On Thursday, Montano repeated her seventh-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:07.59, a mere 3.5 seconds from first.  Saturday she raced to her best finish of the championships, placing fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke with a mark of 2:24.52, less than five seconds off the winning pace.

Meanwhile, Dingman had a solid meet as well, finishing in 14th place in the 3m diving and 15th in the 1m diving competitions.

Santa Barbara claimed the team championship for the women, followed by Santa Rosa and Long Beach while Sierra captured the men's crown, with Orange Coast in second and Mt. San Antonio in third.