Monroe Wins Gold, Badaracco Sets Record at State Meet

VC's Jaiden Monroe claimed gold in the 100-yard backstroke on Friday and Olivia Badaracco bested her own school record in the 100-yard backstroke Friday as the Pirates competed in the 3C2A State Swimming and Diving Championships Thursday through Saturday at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. Both the Ventura men's and women's teams placed 14th overall out of 31 scoring teams on each side.

Monroe touched in 48.73 in the 100-yard backstroke to claim the top spot in the race by a margin of 1.3 seconds. He also set a new school record in the 200-yard backstroke on Saturday, swimming a 1:47.32 to claim fourth place. He also won a silver medal in his first individual race of the meet Friday, missing out on the gold by .16 seconds in the 100-yard butterfly.

Badaracco improved on her own school record and won silver in the 100-yard backstroke, touching in 57.73, just .07 seconds behind the gold medal time. She also finished second in the 200-yard backstroke Saturday and claimed sixth place in the 50-yard freestyle on Thursday.

Faith Marshall placed in two individual events for the Pirates, coming in fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke and fifth in the 200-yard breaststroke. Thomas Shea placed ninth in the 1m diving and came in 12th in the 3m event while Daniel Anguita placed ninth and 15th in the 3m and 1m diving events, respectively. Meanwhile, Alexandria Williams came in 12th in both the 1m and 3m diving for the VC women.

The Pirate women placed in four different relays, as well. Badaracco, Marshall, Olivia Decierdo and Avery Monson came in 10th and 14th in the 200- and 400-yard medley relays, respectively. Cassandra Wallop, Monson, Marshall and Badaracco touched in 12th in the 200-yard freestyle relay while Badaracco, Decierdo, Wallop and Monson finished 15th in the 400-yard freestyle relay. 

The Ventura men had three relays earn points in the meet. Shea, Shane Speth, Jacob Otsuki and Monroe were 13th in the 400-yard freestyle relay while Otsuki, Parker Steen, Michael Ramirez and Monroe touched in 14th in the 800-yard freestyle relay. Monroe, Ramirez, Otsuki and Shea also finished 16th in the 200-yard freestyle relay for the Pirates.

The men's team earned 91 points to finish 14th overall while the women amassed 120 points, also placing 14th as a team.