Riverside & Orange Coast Capture OEC Swim Titles

The Orange Coast College women and the Riverside City College men each captured their respective Orange Empire Conference titles this week during the OEC swimming and diving championships which were hosted by Saddleback College.

Orange Coast's Meghan Kluck set a new conference record in the 200-yard breaststroke event (2:23.18) and teammate Riley Crow followed with a conference record time in the 200-yard butterfly (2:05.99) to lead the Pirates.  For their efforts, the duo shared the conference Swimmer of the Year award.  Orange Coast amassed 816 points to hold off Riverside City College (726).  Golden West would finish third (422), followed by Cypress (390), Saddleback (349), and Fullerton (143).

The Pirates would also benefit from individual victories by Amber Theders in the 1,650-yard freestyle (18:03.31) and Kennedy Hood in the 100-yard freestyle (54.89) along with a team victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:37.91).  Riverside was able to sneak in a winner in the 200-yard backstroke event as Hannah Cain touched the wall first in 2:12.20, but Orange Coast finished second, third, and fourth in that event to still pile up the points.

The Riverside men's team used a deep roster to rack up 956.5 points to easily outdistance runner-up Golden West (609).  Saddleback (461) finished third ahead of Cypress (387), Orange Coast (373.5), and Fullerton (182).  

Riverside's Zack Thelwell would win the 200-yard backstroke, while teammates Erick Fathoni captured the 100-yard freestyle (45.89) and Javier Bernal won the 200-yard butterfly (1:54.52).  Thelwell and Fathoni would share the male Swimmer of the Year award.

Golden West's Travis Spaan would win the 1,650-yard freestyle (16:56.15) and Orange Coast's Kevin Chen would take the title in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:08.74) but Riverside would bounce back to win the men's 400-yard freestyle relay to close out the meet.

In addition to the Swimmer of the Year awards listed above, Andrew Keidel of Orange Coast would be named the male Diver of the Year and Celina Melgoza of Riverside would be named the female Diver of the Year.  Orange Coast head coach Anthony Iacopetti would be named the Coach of the Year for women's swimming while Riverside head coach Jason Northcott was named the Coach of the Year for men's swimming.

Final Results HERE