The Ventura College men's swim team held a solid lead after the first day of the three-day Western State Conference Championships hosted by VC at the Ventura Aquatic Center. The Pirate women, meanwhile, were in third place after one day of competition.
Leading the charge for the Pirate men were Mitchell Ongstad and Marcus Rodarte. Ongstad won the 50-yard freestyle (20.71) while Rodarte brought home the gold in the 200-yard individual medley (1:58.43). VC's 200-yard freestyle relay team of Alec Kruse, Marcus Rodarte, Cesar martins and Ongstad also finished first (1:25.02), as did the 400-yard medley relay team of Ongstad, Kaleb Rodarte, Chris Sands and Austin Hammond (3:34.03).
Hammond was second in the 500-yard freestyle, followed by Sands and Kruse in fifth and sixth, respectively. Kaleb Rodarte followed his brothers win in the 200-yard IM with his own fourth place finish while Martins won bronze in the 50-yard free.
The Pirate men opened up a 210-151 margin over second place Cuesta.
The VC women held their own in the competition despite not earning any gold finishes. The 400-yard medley relay team of Raquel Rodriguez, Jessica Peace, Delani Clark and Alison Onley placed third and CheyanneIrigoyen had the Pirates' highest individual finish at fifth in the 50-yard free. Rodriguez was sixth in the 500-yard free. The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Irigoyen, Peace, Clark and Olney came in sixth place as well.
Ventura's women earned 100 points, well behind first place Santa Barbara (183) and second place Cuesta (148) and just ahead of fourth place Bakersfield (94).
The meet continues Friday April 17 and Saturday April 18 at the Ventura Aquatic Center. Preliminaries are scheduled for 9:00 am both days.