VC Women 3rd, Men 4th at Riverside Invitational

The VC women's swimming and diving team placed third and the men came in fourth Friday and Saturday at the Riverside Invitational. Olivia Badaracco led the women with three individual golds and a bronze while Alex Williams struck gold twice. Jaiden Monroe had the men's team only first place finish and he also had an individual runner-up finish.

Badaracco (Havasu, AZ) touched in 1:02.05 on Friday to win gold in the 100-yard backstroke. She also posted a 2:06.38 to claim gold in the 200-yard freestyle Saturday and a 2:15.63 to finish first in the 200-yard back. She also won third in Friday's 50-yard free.

Williams (Rio Mesa), meanwhile, recorded a score of 104.50 to win the 1m diving and accumulated 86.75 points to claim gold in the 3m diving event.

Ava Carey (Camarillo) was fourth in the 400-yard individual medley and Ami Cruz (Hueneme) came in sixth in the 1650-yard freestyle. Sarah Glassman (Newbury Park) touched in fifth place in the 200-yard butterfly.   

VC's 400-yard freestyle relay quartet of Badaracco, Glassman, Carissa Clay (Camarillo) and Carey finished in the runner up spot while the the same group was third in the 800-yard freestyle relay. Badaracco, Glassman, Stevie Sturges (Malibu) and Carey won bronze in the 200-yard medley relay and Badaracco, Glassman, Clay and Carey were fourth in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

Other notable finishes for the Pirate women included Carey placing seventh in the 200-yard individual medley, ninth in the 200-yard breaststroke and ninth in the 200-yard backstroke. Sturges came in 10th in the 200-yard breast stroke and seventh in the 100-yard breast stroke. Glassman was 10yth in the 100-yard butterfly while Bella Palacios (Liberty (Bakersfield)) finished ninth in the 1650-yard free.

The Ventura women accumulated 522 points to finish third behind Riverside and Orange Coast and ahead of fourth place El Camino and fifth place East Los Angeles.

Monroe (El Camino) swam the 100-yard backstroke in 53.56 to win gold in the event. He also was second in the 100-yard butterfly.

Luigi Travi (Villanova Prep) swam fifth in the 100-yard backstroke while Michael Soho (Rio Mesa) was sixth in the 100-yard breast stroke. Michael Ramirez (Buena) came in seventh in the 200-yard free and fifth in the 200-yard back and Kyle Quach was seventh in the 200-yard back. Thomas Shea (Royal) was second in both the 1m and 3m diving events. 

Nick Santander (Rio Mesa), Shea, Travi and Monroe teamed up to finish second in the 400-yard freestyle relay and third in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Meanwhile, Santander, Travi, Ramirez and Monroe were fourth in the 800-yard freestyle relay and Travi, Ramirez, Ethan Ortiz (Foothill Tech) and Shea were fourth in the 200-yard medley relay.

Santander also came in eighth in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races and ninth in the 100-yard butterfly. Erik Schwartz (Buena) was ninth in the 200-yard fly and Ramirez finished eighth in the 100-yard back.

The Pirate men totaled 496 points to come in fourth behind Orange Coast, RCC and Golden West.

Both teams will next compete at the Western State Conference meet at Santa Monica on Saturday March 15.