On the second day of the three-day Western State Conference Championships in Santa Maria, the Pirates' men's swimming and diving team augmented its lead over second place while the VC women solidified their standing in second. Kaleb Rodarte won Ventura's first individual gold Friday while Maria Petraitis and Paige Treloar-Ballard each earned individual silver medals.
On the women's side, Petraitis finished runner-up in the 400-yard individual medley while Treloar-Ballard was second in the 100-yard butterfly. The 800-yard freestyle relay team of Brittany Oliver, Alejendra Medina, Sabrina Cherfane and Treloar-Ballard also produced a silver medal performance.
The 200-yard medley relay team of Kelsey Golden, Petraitis, Maeve Flynn and Kaitlyn Peters finished fourth in the first event of the day. Medina and Kaylene Lehr came in fifth and ninth, respectively, in the 400-yard IM and Flynn was sixth and Lauren Wiksell was 15th in the 100-yard fly.
Oliver and Cherfane came in fourth and seventh, respectively, in the 200-yard freestyle while Peters was fifth and Reginae Maturino was ninth in the 100-yard breast stroke. Golden also posted an eighth place finish in the 100-yard backstroke.
Santa Barbara continued to lead the women's overall standings with 461 points and VC solidified its runner-up status with 362. Cuesta is a close third with 323 while Hancock sits in fourth with 315.
For the men, Rodarte swam the 400-yard individual medley in 4:15.87 to bring home VC's first individual gold of the championships. The 800-yard freestyle relay team of David Peterson, Thomas Bunker, Derek Krzyski and Rodarte also claimed first place in 7:12.21.
The 200-yard medley relay team of Jack Burleigh, Rodarte, Krzyski and Jack Pickett took second place.
VC dominated the 400 IM, with Rodarte's gold followed by Brian Hicks in fourth, Kyle Goodrich in fifth, Liam Hicks finishing eighth and Mitchell Caldwell coming in 11th. Krzyski earned silver in the 100-yard butterfly with Brandon Haase coming in sixth, and Peterson was runner-up in the 200-yard freestyle followed by Bunker in fifth.
There were also four point-earners for Ventura in the 100-yard breast stroke, led by Kevin Smallwood in fifth with Pickett in sixth, Roger Escalante in 13th and Alex Anderson in 14th. Burleigh won bronze in the 100-yard backstroke.
Ventura increased its lead in the meet, totaling 520.5 points, compared to 348 for second place LA Valley and Santa Monica.
The championships, hosted by Allan Hancock College, conclude on Saturday April 22 with preliminaries at 9:00 am and the finals at 4:00 pm.