Long Beach Women Take Large Early Lead; Cuesta's Huston Breaks State Meet Record on Day One of State Championships

Costa Mesa, Calif. -  It was a day of records as well as a day of fingernail-close finishes on Day 1 of the 3C2A Men's and Women's State Swim/Dive Championships on Thursday at the Orange Coast College Aquatics Pavilion.

Through the first 12 events, the Long Beach City College women (150 points) have a 38-point lead on runner-up, Orange Coast (112), with Santa Barbara City College (103) joining the 100-point club on Day 1. On the men's side, American River (143 points) holds a 14-point edge on Sierra (129) and a 22-point lead on Riverside (121) with still plenty of points left to be had over the next two days.

Among the spotlights from the opening day include a pair of down-to-the-wire finishes in several events and a record-setting performance by Cuesta sophomore Grant Huston in the 200-yard individual medley.

Day 2 finals of the 3C2A will begin on Friday at 4:30 p.m. at the OCC Aquatics Pavilion.

WOMEN'S STANDINGS: 1. Long Beach 150, 2. Orange Coast, 112, 3. Santa Barbara 103, 4. Diablo Valley 93, 5. Las Positas 88, 6. Mt. San Antonio 81, 7. (tie), Sierra 80, DeAnza 80, 9. American River 72, 10. Miramar 70.

MEN'S STANDINGS: 1. American River 143, 2. Sierra 129, 3. Riverside 121, 4. Mt. San Antonio 117, 5. DeAnza 89, 6. Cuesta 86, 7. San Mateo 82, 8. Golden West 79, 9. Diablo Valley 77, 10. Sequoias 52.

The following are event-by-event capsules:

THURSDAY, APRIL 30

Event #1: W-200 freestyle relay: CHAMPION – Long Beach City, 1:36.15 (Samira Semaan, Amy Fritz, Devon Fletcher, Carolyn Kao), 2. Santa Barbara, 1:37.69, 3. Orange Coast, 1:37.75. A strong third leg by LBCC's Devon Fletcher helped vault the Vikings from third to first, a spot they never relinquished. SBCC anchor LeahRummelhoff pushed the Vaqueros into silver, while the host OCC Pirates, from Lane 1, moved up several spots to earn the bronze, thanks to a strong opening leg from sprinter standout, Leyna Nguyen.

Event #2: M-200 freestyle relay:  CHAMPION – American River, 1:22.78 (Justin Hsieh, McKeane Beier, Davyd Tsypan, Rowan Taggatz), 2. Sierra, 1:22.91, 3. Diablo Valley, 1:23.29. In a race that any of the final eight could've won, it was American River College, who prevailed, edging out Sierra at the final touch by .14 seconds. A strong third leg by Tsypan (20.4) helped lead ARC to the gold medal.

Event #3: W-500 freestyle:  CHAMPION – Samira Semaan, Long Beach, 5:03.91, 2. Filuka Houborg, Las Positas, 5:04.13, 3. Jake Lubiens, Sierra, 5:09.78. What was predicted as a two-person battle for gold, ended up being just that as Semaan and Houborg separated from the rest of the field and put on a 500 free battle of the ages. Separated by a blink of an eye for the entire race, Semaan carried a .12 lead on Houborg and held on for a .22 win in an incredible finish. Lubiens earned the bronze medal with a solid performance, topping the fourth-place swimmer by 1.17.

Event #4: M-500 freestyle:  CHAMPION – Eli Martinez-Spencer, Riverside, 4:29.22, 2. Avery Pellicano, Golden West, 4:29.81, 3. Cooper Golling, Mt. San Antonio, 4:33.47 –Another distance race that needed a sprint finish for the eventual state champion as Eli Martinez-Spencer's 25.87 final 50 yards helped the state favorite to a comeback win over GWC's Avery Pellicano, edging out the Rustler standout by .59. Mt. SAC's Cooper Golling edged out GWC's Ryan Novak for the bronze by .11 in another timely touch of the wall.

Event #5: W-200 individual medley:  CHAMPION – Spencer Damaske, Mt. San Antonio, 2:05.85, 2. Analiese Duncan, Orange Coast, 2:06.4, 3. Trinity Link, Santa Barbara, 2:07.68. It took a blistering 50 yards of freestyle (29.74) for Damaske to overcome Duncan (30.91) for the gold medal, trimming 3.2 seconds off of her morning preliminary time. Link finished third with the top three swimmers well ahead of the rest of the pack.

Event #6: M-200 individual medley:  CHAMPION – STATE MEET RECORD - Grant Huston, Cuesta, 1:44.88, 2. Wyatt Miner, Riverside, 1:48.91, 3. Lincoln Jones, Mt. San Antonio, 1:49.59. Huston, a VERY decorated state champion from 2025, decided to break last year's state record – held by Cayden Pitzer (1:46.8) – TWICE on Thursday, topping the mark in the prelims and again in the finals, by nearly two full seconds. Miner pushed Huston all the way to the wall for a solid silver-medal performance, with Jones less than a second behind Miner for the bronze.

Event #7: W-50 freestyle:  CHAMPION – Leyna Nguyen, Orange Coast, 23.88, 2. Evalinne Vecchio, Diablo Valley, 23.91, 3. Carolyn Kao, Long Beach, 23.98. With gold, silver and bronze separated by a tenth of a second, it was truly anyone's race to win. Nguyen grabbed the lead at the 25-yard mark and never gave it up, holding off Vecchio and Kao at the wall, giving the host Pirates their lone gold medal on Day 1.

Event #8: M-50 freestyle: CHAMPION – Ray Fitch, Diablo Valley, 20.51, 2. Jacob Zimmerman, Bakersfield, 20.52, 3. Justin Hsieh, American River, 20.72. It simply does NOT get any closer than this as Ray Fitch came out of Lane 2 and out-touched Zimmerman at the wall for a .01 razor-thin win for gold. Hsieh earned the bronze, just .2 off of the pace. 

Event #9: W-400 medley relay:  CHAMPION – Long Beach, 3:58.1 (Avery White, Devon Fletcher, Simone Mach, Samira Semaan), 2. Santa Barbara, 3:58.8, 3. Orange Coast, 3:59.87. The Vikings make it 2-for-2 in relay events as a strong final 50 from Semaan pushed LBCC ahead of the Vaqueros for the top spot by .7. Lane 1's OCC Pirates rode the anchor, Nguyen, into the bronze meday, joining LBCC and SBCC as the only relays under 4 minutes.

Event #10: M-400 medley relay:  CHAMPION – Riverside, 3:20.43 (Eli-Martinez-Spencer, Jared Ladinez, Wyatt Miner, Jeremiah Ireland), 2. Cuesta, 3:22.31, 3. American River, 3:22.89. Cuesta and American River pushed top-seeded Riverside all the way to the final 50 yards, before Jeremiah Ireland pulled away from his fell anchor swimmers to lead the Tigers to the gold. It was a battle for silver, with the Cougars out-touching ARC at the wall by just over a half-second.

Event #11: Women's 1-Meter Diving: CHAMPION – Ashley Johnson, American River, 250.00, 2. Laina Stifter, Las Positas, 244.10, 3. Reannon Herrera, Sequoias, 243.05. It was the champion of Northern California proving her spot as the top diver on the low board, just 5.9 points clear of Las Positas' Stifter and 6.95 points ahead of COS standout, Herrera.

Event #12: Men's 3-Meter Diving: CHAMPION – Ian Dien, Long Beach, 275.80, 2. Lucas Van Hagel, American River, 220.70, 3. Milo Switzer, DeAnza, 218.10. The high board yielded an impressive performance from LBCC's Ian Dien, who topped all of the best divers in the state with plenty of room to spare. Van Hagel earned the silver for ARC, edging out DeAnza's Switzer for the second spot.

Courtesy of Tony Altobelli, CCCSIA