LBCC Women Swim Away with First 3C2A Title; Sierra, Mt. SAC Men Tie for Top Spot
Costa Mesa, Calif. - On a weekend defined by the amount of close finishes, it only seems fitting that a tie for the men's swim team state title would occur as Sierra College and Mt. San Antonio College swam to a three-day team draw, while Long Beach City College claimed its first-ever women's crown on Day 3 of the 2026 3C2A Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving State Championships on Saturday at the Orange Coast College Aquatics Pavilion.
With three teams in the mix – Sierra, Mt. SAC, and American River – heading into the final race of the night, Sierra's 400-yard relay foursome of Madden Magee, Logan Irvine, Rhett Wildenradt, and Akim Kirilyuk gave the Wolverines 40 huge points, moving them from third to first with 421 total team points. Mt. SAC finished seventh in the event for 24 points, turning their 397 into a 421, giving the Mounties their first-ever men's swim and dive state championship. For the Wolverines, the train continues to roll as Sierra claimed their sixth consecutive men's swim and dive state crown.
"We are so honored to share this state title with Mt. San Antonio. Coach Marc Ruh and his staff do an amazing job," Sierra head men's swim and dive coach Chris Breitbart said. "For us to be able to tie those guys is unbelievable. I told my boys right before the final race to just be fearless and to go out there and give it everything they have, and they did. They laid it on the line – I'm pretty sure that was a school record for us – and I'm just so proud of these boys. They battled… we were down all day, but they put it together."
For the Mounties and head men's swim and dive coach Marc Ruh, it was more of a wait-and-see approach to the final point totals. "There were so many ways the scores could have gone, so we just wanted to see it play itself out," Ruh said. "Once we saw it was a tie - unbelievable. Our guys had a goal from the very beginning that this is what they wanted to accomplish. Our coaching staff encouraged that and that belief did a lot of good things. We had some guys go down late in the season, so we just had to let it all play itself out. We thought we could be in the fight, and we started fourth heading into today, so who knows, right?"
Just out of the title mix was American River College, who finished just three points off the lead with 418 points, followed by Riverside (376), Cuesta (280), and Golden West (279).
For the LBCC women, it was the school's first ever women's swim and dive state championship in school history. "The best feeling I've had as a coach," LBCC head women's swim and dive coach Bradley Adamson said. "It's monumental for our program, for our college, and it shows a lot about the support we get from everyone, and I'm just really proud of our whole team. This group of women are so strong, and they're having the best time doing it."
Led by Co-Swimmer of the Year, Samira Samaan, the Vikings forged a new path for their school's historic aquatics program, and the sky is the limit for LBCC's future in women's swim and dive. "Samira is everything, in terms of energy, in terms of talent, and she's just a true competitor, which is so good to see," Adamson said. "This year, her competitive drive went to the next level. I used to coach her as an age grouper back in the day so to be able to coach her now, it's kind of a full-circle moment for both of us."
Santa Barbara City College finished state runner-up with 310 points, followed by Mt. San Antonio (304), Sierra (299), and Orange Coast (281).
2026 3C2A State Championships Meet Awards
Men's Swimmer of the Meet: Grant Huston, Cuesta
Women's Co-Swimmers of the Meet: Evalinne Vecchio, Diablo Valley; Chantee Nguyen, Cypress; Samira Samaan, Long Beach
Men's Performance of the Meet: Grant Huston's 400 IM, Cuesta
Women's Performance of the Meet: Chantee Nguyen, 200 butterfly, Cypress
Men's Swim Co-Coaches of the Year: Chris Breitbart, Sierra; Marc Ruh, Mt. San Antonio
Women's Swim Coach of the Year: Bradley Adamson, Long Beach
Men's Diver of the Year: Ian Dien, Long Beach
Women's Diver of the Year: Ashley Johnson, American River
Men's Diving Coach of Year: Shane Butler, Long Beach
Women's Diving Coach of Year: Dede Crayne, American River
WOMEN'S FINAL TOP 10 STANDINGS: 1. Long Beach, 500.5, 2. Santa Barbara, 310, 3. Mt. San Antonio, 304, 4. Sierra, 299, 5. Orange Coast, 281, 6. Las Positas, 253, 7. Diablo Valley, 249, 8. San Diego Miramar, 219, 9. De Anza, 207.5, 10. American River, 202
MEN'S FINAL TOP 10 STANDINGS: 1. (Tie), Mt. San Antonio, 421; Sierra, 421, 3. American River, 418, 4. Riverside, 376, 5. Cuesta, 280, 6. Golden West, 279, 7. De Anza (239), 8. Orange Coast, 233, 9. San Mateo, (211.5), 10. Diablo Valley (182).
SATURDAY, MAY 2
Event #29: W-1,650 freestyle: CHAMPION – Filuka Houborg, Las Positas, 17:44.7, 2. Autumn Moya, Mt. San Antonio, 17:49.57, 3. Jane Lubiens, Sierra, 18:05.68. The top-two fastest seeds finished with the fastest finals times, with Houborg leading the way, thanks to a strong start, steady middle and strong finish. Moya took the silver, just five seconds off Houborg's championship pace, while Sierra's Lubiens touched the final wall 15 seconds faster than her seed time.
Event #30: M-1,650 freestyle: CHAMPION – Ryan Novak, Golden West, 15:52.22, 2. Cooper Colling, Mt. San Antonio, 15:54.16, 3. Avery Pellicano, Golden West, 15:55.92. In a mile race that looked more like synchronized swimming, the trio of Novak, Golling and Pellicano put on a show in the mile freestyle. With all three swimmers within a half-second of each other, it was anyone's race as it headed towards a conclusion. Pellicano edged in front with 100 yards to go, before Novak found his final gear and pulled away from the duo with 50 yards remaining, winning the race by just under 2 seconds over Colling and 3.7 seconds over his Rustler teammate.
Event #31: W-100 individual medley: CHAMPION – STATE RECORD – Trinity Link, Santa Barbara, 57.56, 2. Jasmine Liu, Cypress, 59.27, 3. Devon Fletcher, 59.9. History made at the 2026 State Meet as Link topped the previous-best time of 57.67, set back in 2013 by Alexandra Holland. Jumping out to a body lead after the backstroke, Link never trailed and topped runner-up Liu by just under two seconds. Fletcher earned the bronze, touching the wall .74 ahead of American River's Sasha Samoylovich.
Event #32: M-100 individual medley: CHAMPION – STATE RECORD – 1. Grant Huston, Cuesta, 48.78, 2. Kaua Mota, Orange Coast, 49.86, 3. Luke Mardsen, Mt. San Antonio, 51.24. The greatness of Grant Huston continues to grow as the Cuesta standout set a third state record at this year's State Meet, breaking his own previous mark of 49.18, set back last year. Neck-and-neck with OCC's Mota, Huston pulled ahead in the breaststroke and pulled away in the freestyle. Mota, who was just .68 off of Huston's 2025 record time, earned the silver, with Mardsen 1.4 off of Mota's silver-medal pace.
Event #33: W-200 backstroke: CHAMPION – Chantee Nguyen, Cypress, 2:03.12, 2. Olivia Badaracco, Ventura, 2:05.68, 3. Spencer Damaske, Mt. San Antonio, 2:06.06. With the 7th-fastest time in 3C2A history, Nguyen pulled away at the halfway point of the race, using her ever-lasting underwater prowess to her advantage. By the time she resurfaced on each turn, only 15 yards remained in each lap. Badaracco was 2.5 seconds off of Nguyen's blistering pace for the silver, edging out bronze medalist, Damaske by .38.
Event #34: M-200 backstroke: CHAMPION – Lincoln Jones, Mt. San Antonio, 1:46.65, 2. Eli Martinez-Spencer, Riverside, 1:46.89, 3. Davyd Tsypan, American River, 1:47.23. The top-seeded Jones picked a good time to peak in 2026, using a strong final 100 yards to edge out Martinez-Spencer by .24 and the defending state champion, Tsypan, by .58.
Event #35: W-100 freestyle: CHAMPION – Evalinne Vecchio, Diablo Valley, 51.32, 2. Samira Semaan, Long Beach, 51.85, 3. Carolyn Kao, Long Beach, 51.98. In a race that featured three state champions from this year's State Meet, it was a strong 24.65 opening 50 leg by Vecchio that proved to be the difference maker, as she edged out Semaan by just over a half-second for the top spot. Semaan edged out her LBCC teammate, Kao, by .13 for the silver.
Event #36: M-100 freestyle: CHAMPION – Justin Hsieh, American River, 44.98, 2. Kaua Mota, Orange Coast, 45.32, 3. Akim Kirilyuk, Sierra, 45.6. With all eight swimmers within 1.1 seconds of each other after the prelims, it truly was anyone's race to be had. In the end, Hsieh earned a .34 win over state runner-up, Mota from OCC, with Sierra's Kirilyuk earned the bronze, just .28 behind Mota.
Event #37: W-200 breaststroke: CHAMPION – Analiese Duncan, Orange Coast, 2:20.38, 2. Samantha Fehr, Las Positas, 2:20.49, 3. May Guidoux, Santa Barbara, 2:23.99. After a pair of frustrating silver-medal finishes, OCC's Analiese Duncan, earned herself a gold medal after mounting a furious 50-yard comeback over Fehr, who was a second ahead of the pack with one up-and-back remaining. Duncan, drew even with Fehr with 25 yards to go, edged in front early in the final stretch and out-touched Fehr at the wall to pick up the win for the host Pirates. Guidoux in lane 1, was impressive in her bronze medal performance.
Event #38: M-200 breaststroke: CHAMPION – Jun Caruso, Orange Coast, 1:59.92, 2. Gunner Hopkins, De Anza, 2:00.09, 3. Joshua Noonan, American River, 2:03.68. Jun Caruso was a party-of-one in the sub-2-minute club, as the Pirate standout broke out early and never let up en route to the state title, helping the Pirates sweep the 200 breaststroke events. De Anza's Hopkins, in late 2, came on strong, but fell short of gold by .17, with ARC's Noonan taking the bronze.
Event #39: W-200 butterfly: CHAMPION – Chantee Nguyen, Cypress, 2:05.99, 2. Erika Correa, De Anza, 2:06.63, 3. Abby Chatalyan, L.A. Valley, 2:12.51. Nothing like earning a pair of gold medals within an hour as Nguyen took care of her business again for the top time of the event. Trailing with 50 yards to go, Nguyen found her next gear and caught, then, passed the field en route to a half of a body length win over De Anza's Correa and a 6-second win over bronze-winner Chatalyan.
Event #40: M-200 butterfly: CHAMPION – Wyatt Miner, Riverside, 1:50.49, 2. Zixi Xu, Chaffey, 1:50.63, 3. Brady Lind, Cuesta, 1:52.19. Miner completed his collection of medals, earning a gold medal in the 200 butterfly after winning silver and bronze medals in previous events throughout this State Meet. Xu emptied the tank in the final 50 yards and nearly came back to shock Miner, who had a full body-length lead on the field throughout most of the race. But in the end, Miner held on for a .14 win over Xu, with Cuesta's Lind taking third.
Event #41: W-400 freestyle relay: CHAMPION – Long Beach, 3:31.91 (Samira Semaan, Devon Fletcher, Sophia Kinno, Carolyn Kao), 2. Santa Barbara, 3:33.53, 3. Diablo Valley, 3:36.26. It was a fitting conclusion for the state-champion Vikings, who took home the gold medal in the final event of the evening. Long Beach used the second half of the race to grab the lead, with anchor, Kao, taking the Vikings home the rest of the way, topping runner-up SBCC by 1.62 seconds. Diablo Valley anchor, Mia DeLuca held off host OCC for the bronze medal by .27.
Event #42: M-400 freestyle relay: CHAMPION – Sierra, 3:01.69 (Madden Magee, Logan Irvine, Rhett Wildenradt, Akim Kirilyuk), 2. American River, 3:03.62, 3. Golden West, 3:03.76. The Wolverines' foursome helped bring Sierra from third place to a share of the state title with Mt. San Antonio with a tremendous performance in the final race of the State Meet. Rhett Wildenradt took the race over in the third leg, putting Sierra out in front to stay, with ARC just under 2 seconds behind for the silver and Golden West 2.07 seconds for bronze.
Courtesy of Tony Altobelli, CCCSIA