RCC Rides Depth to Women’s OEC Swim Title

The Riverside City College women's swimming and diving team won the Orange Empire Conference championship on Saturday at Orange Coast College. The Tigers won despite having zero individual winners in swimming events, riding its depth to the prestigious OEC winner's circle.  

RCC won two titles over the weekend, winning both the diving events. Emily Parker won the 1-meter dive (142.05) while Kate Simmons was a winner at the 3-meter dive (144.80). The Tigers had 21 top 5 finishes for the day. Isabella Stolpp led the Tigers with 49 total points for the team by finishing second in the 200 Freestyle (2:03.66) and third in both the 50 Freestyle (25.64) and 100 Freestyle (56.69). Isadora Taylor had four finishes in the top four while Ashlyn Allen and Kaia Boone both had three finishes in the top five.  

Orange Coast had the most wins of any team as the Pirates won 14 different events despite finishing a distant second place in the team standings. Analiese Duncan and Leyna Nguyen were both three-time winners to lead the way. Duncan captured OEC titles in the 200 Individual Medley (2:08.83), 100 Breaststroke (1:05.61) and 200 Breaststroke (2:23.46). Nguyen was a winner in the 50 Freestyle (23.70), 100 Butterfly (58.29) and 100 Freestyle (53.03). Emma Steffens won two events for the Pirates in capturing the 500 Freestyle (5:18.74) and 100 Backstroke (59.33). Elisabeth Liskey won the final individual title for the Pirates with a win in the 200 Freestyle (2:03.63). The Pirates won all five relay events over the weekend.

Cypress finished in fifth place in the team standings but had one of the outstanding competitors of the week in Chantee Nguyen. The freshman won three separate events to earn 60 points for her team.  Nguyen won the 400 Individual Medley (4:30.23), 200 Backstroke (2:02.82) and 200 Butterfly (2:06.21).

Golden West finished third in the standings but had just one individual winner on the day. Sienna Abernathy won the grueling 1,650 Freestyle race in a time of 18:36.82. Abernathy was an absolute workhorse for Golden West, finishing with five top 5 finishes for the day. Golden West had 11 other top 5 finishes on the day, with Zoe Esquival and Mimi Versegi having three apiece.

Saddleback finished fourth in the team competition but was shut out of the individual win column. Delaney Cowan had an outstanding meet for the Bobcats, finishing second in both the 400 Individual Medley (4:51.89) and 200 Butterfly (2:19.34) while finishing third in the 100 Butterfly (1:02.54).

Fullerton finished in sixth place in the team event but had one of the top performers of the day in Cayenne Mattea Bagnol. The freshman had four finishes in the top 4, placing second in the 100 Butterfly (1:01.59), third in the 100 Individual Medley (1:05.24), third in the 200 Butterfly (12:21.88) and third in the 50 Freestyle (25.75).

Courtesy of Brad Hoiseth, Orange Empire Conference