OEC WOMEN'S SWIM COULD BE A PHOTO FINISH

The Orange Empire Conference women's swimming and diving season opened at Saddleback College on Friday in Mission Viejo.  The 2026 season looks like it could be a photo finish by the end of the year.

Riverside City College won the opening meet at Saddleback on Friday, but the Tigers won with numbers as they had 19 swimmers in the pool and captured a lot of points with depth.  RCC had two wins on the day as Isabella Stolpp won in the 50 Freestyle (26.19) while Ashlyn Allen captured the title in the 100 Breaststroke (1:13.88).

Orange Coast College had only nine swimmers in the pool on Friday but had more wins than any other program with eight.  The Pirates were led by Analiese Duncan, who was a three-time winner.  Duncan captured wins in the 200 Individual Medley (2:14.49), 100 Butterfly (59.55) and 200 Breaststroke (2:31.55).  Emma Steffens was almost as impressive, winning both the 500 Freestyle (5:31.04) and 200 Freestyle (2:05.77) while finishing second in the 200 Backstroke (2:24.66).  Leyna Nguyen also won an event for the Pirates in the 100 Freestyle (53.92) while both relay teams were winners for OCC.

Cypress College showed how much depth is present in the Orange Empire Conference this season as the Chargers finished in last place in the team competition but had the second most individual wins with five.  Joanna Cruz won both the 1-meter dive (168.53) and 3-meter dive (134.18) competitions and Chantee Nguyen won in both the 100 Backstroke (59.08) and 200 Backstroke (2:07.48).  Jasmine Liu was another winner for Cypress, touching the pad first in the 100 Individual Medley (1:02.32).

Saddleback had a pair of wins from Delaney Cowan, who won both the 400 Individual Medley (4:56.47) and 200 Butterfly (2:24.32).  Golden West finished in third place in the team competition. The Rustler had an individual win from Sienna Abernathy in the 1650 Freestyle race (19:34.04). 

The next Orange Empire Conference Meet will take place at Orange Coast College on March 20.

Story by Brad Hoiseth, Saddleback College