Host Orange Coast looking to end Sierra men's title streak at 3C2A State Swim Meet

(COSTA MESA) -- This week's 3C2A Swimming and Diving State Championships marks the 75th year of the state men's meet with Sierra College hoping to accomplish a four-peat as champions.

The Big 8 champion Wolverines, though, will be in at least a 3-team dogfight based on the swimming numbers for meet host and Orange Empire Conference champion Orange Coast along with South Coast Conference champ Mt. San Antonio.

Sierra comes in with 14 swimmers and a diver qualified for individual events while Orange Coast also has 14 swimmers ready to earn points. Mt. SAC is no slouch with 11 swimmers and a diver. 

The big story is that Orange Coast has the fastest seed time in four of the five relays and stands second only to Riverside City in the 400-yard freestyle relay. If the Pirates succeed in outracing their opponents, that could be enough to win the program's ninth state title.

OCC last won in 2018 before Sierra captured the '19, '22 and '23 championships.

The state meet begins Thursday and runs through Saturday (May 2-4). The Prelims each day begins at 9 a.m. and the finals are 4:30 p.m. for the first two days, then 4 p.m. on the final day.

Here is an individual event-by-event look at the 75th state meet:

200 Freestyle Relay--Orange Coast has a top seed time of 1:22.76 but will have OEC foes Riverside and Golden West along with Sierra breathing down their necks in what should be a thriling opening event. 
500 Freestyle--Golden West's Nolan Chomin owns the top time of 4:33.54 but will definitely be challenged by OCC's Brandon Samaniego (4:36) and Las Positas' Ryan Ridosko (4:36.37).
200 Individual Medley--Las Positas talent Zachary Zauhar-Kurr is the favorite at 1:50.64 with Orange Coast's Christian Perez just under a second back and El Camino's Fin Kircher also in the running. 
50 Freestyle--Sierra's Christopher Nihart holds seed bragging rights at 20.54 but this will be a flat out battle royale as nine swimmers have times under 21 seconds. OCC's Gideon Stemmons (.07 back), American River's John Branson (.14), RCC's Yousef Nahali (.20), and Mt. SAC's Ray Chun (.24) all figuring to pressure Nihart.
400 Medley Relay--Last year, OCC set a new state meet record in the event, but don't expect that 3:17.40 to be matched anytime soon. The Pirates do top the '24 field at 3:24.96, followed by Sierra, ARC and Mt. SAC. 
3-Meter Diving--Two divers who got a taste of the state meet experience last year at East LA College are back to shoot for the high board gold in current high scorer Ventura's Ayden Jacobus, the SoCal champion, (258.40, ninth last year) and North champ Sequoias' Easton Farmer (250.30), who placed fourth in 2023. Another high-scoring diver to watch out for is Sierra's Jonah Grove (223.75).
200 Medley Relay--The state meet record was also broken last year by OCC (1:29.79) and the Pirates are fast again this year with a high seed of 1:32.23. American River is just .51 behind while Sierra and Mt. SAC figure to swim peak marks.
400 IM--Zauhar-Kurr is hoping for the daily double in the versatile stroke events and if his 4:00.91 seed is any indication, he may accomplish the feat. GWC's Thomas Kelly and OCC's Samaniego are each more than five seconds off that pace.
100 Butterfly--This figures to be a photo finish in the making as Mt. SAC's Eric Yeh (49.58), Sierra's Genoa Nixon (49.70), RCC's Lennon Franklin (50.02), and Long Beach's Nathaniel D'Aloisio (50.06) will see who is "buttah."
200 Freestyle--Sierra's Troy Quintana has the top mark coming in at 1:40.71 and the four next fastest swimmers are all under 1:42, but a full second behind him. 
100 Breaststroke--ARC's Cayden Pitzer (55.91) is the lone seed under 56 seconds, but expect Mt. SAC's Markus Stechbuchner (.31 behind) in hot pursuit. 
100 Backstroke--Yeh is the top seed here at 49.81 with ARC's Branson (50.13) his biggest challenger. 
800 Freestyle Relay--This has the makings of a possible OEC conference sweep of the top three medals as Orange Coast (6:54.07), Riverside (6:57.04) and Golden West (6:58.75) lead next best Sierra (6:59.45).
1-Meter Diving--Farmer (260.85 points) and Jacobus (237.80) were fifth and sixth respectively last year and could be 1-2 on the low board. Grove (217.40) is the only other diver that scored this year more than 200 points. 
1,650 Freestyle--In past meets, seed times have meant very little in the mile swim. This year has some intrigue as Golden West's Chomin 15:49.57 is a solid top seed, but last year's returning silver medalist Mt. SAC's Samuel Slezak and bronze finisher OCC's Samaniego are poised to make this a race that could be decided in the final 50 yards. 
200 Backstroke--Golden West's Kelly established a 1:51.48 seed while LBCC's Tony Montes (1:52.60) and Santa Rosa's Andrew Morris (1:52.93) will have to greatly improve to catch him. 
100 Freestyle--Orange Coast's Stemmons has the top seed at 45.22, but Pirate teammate Mason Parker (45.57), Mt. SAC's Yeh (45.60), ARC's Branson (45.63), Sierra's Nihart (45.69) will be in sprint mode in what should be a barnburner. 
200 Breaststroke--OCC's Perez top seed of 2:01.90 is solid, but Mt. SAC's Stegbuchner (2:02.58) and an experienced LPC's Zauhar-Kurr (2:03.08) could make this a lot closer final. 
200 Butterfly--Long Beach's D'Aloisio is the frontrunner at 1:51.27 with no one else under 1:53. The next best are Orange Coast's Kevin Li (1:53.17) and ECC's Kircher (1:53.24).
400 Freestyle Relay--From a fan perspective, one would love to see the meet come down to this last event as Riverside is the fastest thus far (3:03.52), followed by OCC, Sierra and Golden West. 

Orange Coast College's Aquatic Center

Release by Robert Lewis, CCCSIA for the 3C2A