The Pirates' men's swim team continued their dominance in conference competition,a nd the VC women continued to show their thin margin for error Friday at the third Western State Conference meet at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria Friday. The Ventura men finished first of the three teams participating while the VC women were fourth of five teams, just five points from second. David Peterson and Thomas Bunker both earned two individual firsts in the competition.
The Pirate men earned 153 points to finish first, followed by Bakersfield with 114 and Cuesta with 109. On the women's side, Santa Barbara totaled 125 points to finish first, followed by Hancock with 93, Cuesta with 92 and Ventura totaling 88 points. Bakersfield was a distant fifth with 54 points.
Bunker came in first place in the 500-yard and 1000 yard freestyle races while Peterson claimed gold in the 200-yard freestyle and the 200-yard butterfly. Kaleb Rodarte was first in the 400-yard individual medley and Jack Pickett claimed the 100-yard freestyle race.
Ventura also won two relay races, the 400-yard medley relay with Jack Burleigh, Rodarte, Derek Krzyski and Bunker, and the 400-yard freestyle relay featuring Peterson, Liam Hicks, Krzyski and Pickett.
Rodarte picked up the silver in the 200-yard breast stroke. Meanwhile Brandon Haase was third in the 200-yard fly and Burleigh picked up bronze in the 100-yard free. Kyle Goodrich was third in the 1000-yard free and Brian Hicks and Liam Hicks were third and fourth, respectively, in the 200-yard backstroke.
The Ventura women were missing two key swimmers, but still produced some notable performances. Sabrina Cherfane came in second in the 2000-yard freestyle, and the 400-yard freestyle relay of Kelsey Golden, Kaylene Lehr, Cherfane and Ylva Ostlin also picked up the silver. Kaitlyn Peters picked up a pair of third place finishes in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle sprints and Alejendra Medina was third in the 200-yard butterfly. Paige Treloar-Ballard came in fourth in the 100-yard free.
Ventura will participate in the Pasadena Invitational on Saturday April 8 before readying themselves for the Western State Conference Championships April 20-22 in Santa Maria at Allan Hancock College. The WSC and SoCal Diving Championships will be held on April 14-15 at El Camino College in Torrance.