Huston Breaks Another Record as Men's Team Race Narrows; LBCC Women Widen Margin Led by Samaan

Costa Mesa, Calif. - Another day of fast times and records set on Day 2 of the 3C2A Men's and Women's Swimming/Diving State Championships on Friday at the Orange Coast College Aquatics Pavilion.

Through two days of competition, the Long Beach City College women's team leads with 346.50 points with a log-jam of teams battling for second, including Sierra (213), Mt. San Antonio (212), Santa Barbara (212), Orange Coast (201) and Las Positas (200). On the men's side, American River (302 points) holds a slight lead over multiple-defending state champion, Sierra College (294), with several other teams lurking, including Riverside (264), Mt. San Antonio (257), and Cuesta (205).

The impressive State-Meet performance of Cuesta College's Grant Huston continued on Friday as the sophomore standout obliterated another record in the 400-yard individual medley, shattering the previous state record by over seven seconds. 

For the ladies, LBCC's Samira Samaan earned more state hardware, winning an individual gold in the 200 freestyle, while helping the Vikings claim the top spot in the 800 freestyle relay.

The third and final day of the 3C2A Men's and Women's Swimming/Diving State Championships will take place on Saturday at the OCC Aquatics Pavilion, beginning at 4 p.m.

WOMEN'S STANDINGS: 1. Long Beach, 346.50, 2. Sierra, 213, 3. (tie) Mt. San Antonio, 212, Santa Barbara, 212, 5. Orange Coast, 201, 6. Las Positas, 200, 7. Diablo Valley, 171, 8. American River, 156, 9. DeAnza, 143.50, 10. Miramar, 141.

MEN'S STANDINGS: 1. American River, 302, 2. Sierra, 294, 3. Riverside, 264, 4. Mt. San Antonio, 257, 5. Cuesta, 205, 6. DeAnza, 183, 7. Golden West, 173, 8. Diablo Valley, 148, 9. San Mateo, 145, 10. Orange Coast, 129.

Here is an event-by-event recap:

FRIDAY, MAY 1

Event #13: W-200 medley relay: CHAMPION – Santa Barbara, 1:47.44 (Makena Quinones, May Guidoux, Trinity Link, Leah Rummelhoff), 2. Orange Coast, 3. Long Beach. Trinity Link's solid butterfly leg (25.22) helped propel the Vaqueros into the lead and from there, freestyle specialist, Leah Rummelhoff held off strong finishes from OCC and Long Beach to pull out the win in the opening final of Day 2. The host Pirates put forth a solid performance but missed the top of the podium by just over a half-second.

Event #14: M-200 medley relay: CHAMPION – Cuesta, 1:30.71 (Zach Pechan, Grant Huston, Brady Lind, Grayson Cunningham), 2. Diablo Valley, 1:31.84, 3. Riverside, 1:31.98. In a race pre-hyped as "anyone's to win", Lane 2 occupant, Cuesta College, led from start to finish to earn the gold medal by over a second on runner-up Diablo Valley. Zach Pechan (backstroke) and Grant Huston (breaststroke) put the Cougars ahead from the opening buzzer and left the field in their wake. With DVC and RCC tied heading into the freestyle, DVC's Greer used a 21.84 final leg to edge out the Tigers' time by .14.

Event #15: W-400 individual medley: CHAMPION – Spencer Damaske, Mt. San Antonio, 4:30.02, 2. Chantee Nguyen, Cypress, 4:34.85, 3. Avery White, Long Beach, 4:44.53. Make it 2-for-2 in the individual medley races for Damaske, who overcame a five-second hole after the first two legs of the event. Damaske trimmed 99% of that deficit heading into the freestyle, where she turned on the jets and pulled away from Nguyen, touching the wall 4.83 seconds ahead of her biggest challenger. White held off LAVC's Stella Kalaba for the bronze.

Event #16: M-400 individual medley: CHAMPION – STATE RECORD – Grant Huston, Cuesta, 3:45.47, 2. Lincoln Jones, Mt. San Antonio, 3:53.82, 3. Gunner Hopkins, DeAnza, 3:56.33. Another day, another record-shattering performance for Huston, who surpassed the previous state-best time of 3:52.54 (Jake Reuter, 2023) by over SEVEN SECONDS. Jones for silver and Hopkins for bronze also posted their lifetime-best times in the biggest event of the year, but nobody had an answer for Huston, who pulled away during the breaststroke leg and never looked back.

Event #17: W-100 butterfly: CHAMPION – Trinity Link, Santa Barbara, 57.23, 2. Erika Correa, DeAnza, 57.33, 3. Lexi Kershner. Despite a strong final 25 yards from Correa, top-seed, Trinity Link got to the wall first, just .1 ahead of Correa for the gold. Kershner put forth a solid bronze effort, and all eight finalists touched the wall in under 1 minute, showing the depth and talent in this event.

Event #18: M-100 butterfly: CHAMPION – Kaua Mota, Orange Coast, 48.36, 2. Jaiden Monroe, Ventura, 48.52, 3. Wyatt Miner, Riverside, 49.37. The home pool proved most comfortable for OCC Pirate, Kaua Mota, who followed up his Orange Empire Conference title in the butterfly with a state title, leading from the opening splash of the water. Monroe came on strong at the end, but finished .16 off Mota's pace, while Miner earned the bronze, just one second off the winning time.

Event #19: W-200 freestyle: CHAMPION – Samira Semaan, Long Beach, 1:53.15, 2. Carolyn Kao, Long Beach, 1:53.86, 3. Filuka Houborg, Las Positas, 1:55.67. Samaan made it 2-for-2 in freestyle events as she outlasted fellow Viking, Kao, at the wall with her second individual gold. Kao pushed her teammate and earned the silver, nearly two seconds over Houborg, who took the bronze.

Event #20: M-200 freestyle: CHAMPION – Wyatt Mitchell, Golden West, 1:38.45, 2. Ryan Novak, Golden West, 1:39.47, 3. Nathanael Ridosko, Las Positas, 1:39.77. Much like the 1-2 LBCC finish on the women's side, the Golden West College Rustlers went gold-silver in the 200 free as well, with Mitchell (2026 OEC champion) outlasting his teammate after an impressive 47.72 in the opening 100 yards. Novak outlasted Ridoskoat the wall and earned the silver by .3 over the LPC standout.

Event #21: W-100 breaststroke: CHAMPION – Samantha Fehr, Las Positas, 1:04.09, 2. Analiese Duncan, Orange Coast, 1:04.17, 3. May Guidoux, Santa Barbara, 1:05.01. Another down-to-the-wire finish at the 2026 State Championships, as Fehrsurvived a final 25-yard push from Duncan to give the Hawks their first state title of the finals. Duncan earned her second individual silver medal, missing the gold by just .08. Guidoux picked up the bronze by just over a half-second over Ventura's Faith Marshall.

Event #22: M-100 breaststroke: CHAMPION – Jared Ladinez, Riverside, 55.79, 2. Joshua Noonan, American River, 56.2, 4. Andrew Manzo, Sierra, 56.31. Last year's silver medal is now gold in 2026 for Ladinez, who jumped out ahead and stayed ahead to claim the title by .41 over ARC's Noonan. With the fastest final 50, OCC's Caruso snuck into the bronze medal spot for the host Pirates.

Event #23: W-100 backstroke: CHAMPION – Evalinne Vecchio, Diablo Valley, 57.30, 2. Olivia Badaracco, Ventura, 57.37, 3. Camilla Guillermo, L.A. Valley, 59.55. The No. 2-seeded Vecchio came out strong and held off the top-seeded Badaracco to capture the gold medal for Diablo Valley. Badaracco, last year's bronze medalist, upgraded to silver in 2026, with Guillermo earning the bronze, holding off a strong performance from OCC's Emma Steffens out of Lane 1.

Event #24: M-100 backstroke: CHAMPION – Jaiden Monroe, Ventura, 48.73, 2. Logan Irvine, Sierra, 50.03, 3. Eli-Martinez-Spencer, Riverside, 50.41. The top-seeded Monroe did not disappoint the fans as he led from start to finish to add a gold medal to last year's silver medal to his state 100 backstroke collection. Irvine earned the silver, just missing out on a sub-50-second time, while Martinez-Spencer edged out Cuesta's Zach Pechan by .04 for the bronze.

Event #25: W-800 freestyle relay: CHAMPION – Long Beach, 7:50.09 (Carolyn Kao, Sophia Kinno, Avery White, Samira Semaan), 2. Mt. San Antonio, 7:54.62, 3. DeAnza, 8:01.11. Give Samira Semaan a four-second head start and the battle turns to "who wins the silver" as she helped the Vikings cruise to their third relay win at this year's State Meet, topping runner-up Mt. SAC and DeAnza with relative ease. DeAnza held off Sierra for the bronze by touching the wall for the final time just 1.34 seconds faster than the Wolverine foursome.

Event #26: M-800 freestyle relay: CHAMPION – Golden West, 6:44.64, (Avery Pellicano, Jack Wright, Ryan Novak, Wyatt Mitchell), 2. Sierra, 6:46.19, 3. Riverside, 6:47.59. In a race that featured three different leaders, it was the top-seeded Rustlers who had the final lead, earning the gold medal with a 1.5 second win over runner-up Sierra and third-place Riverside. Cuesta, led by standout Grant Huston, pushed the Cougars out to an early lead, but the Rustlers held steady with 200 freestyle champ, Wyatt Mitchell, leading the GWC comeback..

Event #27: W-3-meter board: CHAMPION – Ashley Johnson, American River, 251.00, 2. Laina Stifter, Las Positas, 241.85, 3. Bridget Adams, American River, 207.20. It was a 1-2 repeat from Day 1 as ARC's Ashley Johnson picked up the gold medal with a solid, all-around performance on the 3-meter board. Stifter, yesterday's 1-meter board silver medalist, earned the silver at 3-meter, while Johnson's ARC teammate, Bridget Adams earned the bronze.

Event #28: M-1-meter board: CHAMPION – Ian Dien, Long Beach, 278.05, 2. Lucas Van Hagel, American River, 226.25, 3. Milo Switzer, DeAnza, 223.35. LBCC's Ian Dien topped a quality group of divers to pick up the gold medal by 52 points over ARC's Van Hagel and 55 points over Switzer, both of whom finished silver and bronze, respectively, in Thursday's 1-meter diving finals.

Courtesy of Tony Altobelli, CCCSIA