The Orange Coast College men's swimming and dive team edged rival Golden West College for the Orange Empire Conference championship on Saturday at Orange Coast College.  The Pirates and Rustlers now head to the 3C2A State Championships as two of the favorites.  

Orange Coast had nine individual wins on the day, led by both Christian Perez and Gideon Stemmons.  Perez and Stemmons both won three events, with Perez winning the 200 Individual Medley (1:51.62), 400 Individual Medley 94:04.53) and 200 Breaststroke (2:01.90) and Stemmons winning the 50 Freestyle (20.61), 100 Backstroke (50.93) and 100 Freestyle (45.22).

Orange Coast had three other individual winners in Masa Arika, Dylan Bertino and Kevin Li.  Arika captured the 200 Freestyle (1:41.89) while Bertino was a winner in the 100 Breaststroke (57.41) and Li in the 200 Fly (1:53.17).  

Golden West hung close with OCC, winning three separate individual events.  Nolan Chomin led the way for the Rustlers, winning both the 500 Freestyle (4:33.54) and 1,650 Freestyle (15:49.57).  In addition, Thomas Kelly was a winner for Golden West in the 200 Backstroke (1:51.48).  

Riverside City cruised to a comfortable margin over Saddleback for third place on Saturday(567-361).  The Tigers had three wins on the day, with Vincent Roulhac winning both the 1-meter dive (196.65) and 3-meter dive (153.2) and Lennon Franklin capturing the 100 Fly (50.02).  

Orange Coast College will host the 3C2A State Championships on May 2-4.  Orange Coast and Golden West both figure to challenge for a state title.  Orange Coast finished second in the state last season and has captured five state titles since 2006.  Golden West finished sixth at the state finals in 2023 and has captured 16 state championships in its history, with the last coming in 2017.

TEAM SCORES:

Release by Brad Hoiseth, Saddleback