The Pirates men's and women's swimming and diving teams competed at the Western State Conference Invite No. 2 hosted by Cuesta Saturday in San Luis Obispo. The VC men placed second of nine teams while the women finished eight of the 10 competing teams. Lauren Hooyer won the 50-yard freestyle for the women's best finish while Lester Wright and Arturo Medina brought home gold for the Pirate men.
Hooyer won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 26.19 for the VC women while Stefanie Covarrubias was runner-up in the 1m diving competition. Raylynn Lipsky earned a pair of fifth-place finishes in the 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle races and Sierra Cameron was fifth in the 50-yard free. Caitlin Burditt came in seventh in the 200-yard free and Ary Martinez was eighth in the 400-yard individual medley. Ventura had a difficult day overall, earning 139 points to finsh eighth out o fthe 10 teams competing.
Wright continued his stellar season for the Pirate men, winning the 1m and 3m diving events. He posted a score of 288.8 in the 1m competition while scoring 269.65 in the 3m event.
Medina continued his dominance in the 200-yard breast stroke, touching in 2:19.56 to claim gold. He was also second in the 400-yard individual medley.
Collin Spargur was fifth in the 50-yard freestyle while Roman Becher and Gabriel Iberra each finished sixth in the 200-yard backstroke and 1650-yard freestyle, respectively. Marcel Hurtubise was seventh in the 200-yard freestyle and eighth in the 200-yard butterfly and Jake Peters touched in eighth place in the 100-yard free.
VC also had a pair of bronze medal winning relay teams. Ethan Enquist, Medina, Hurtubise and Spargur came in third in the 400-yard medley relay while Christian Foster, Peters, Brayden Lauritzen and Johnny Van Mannakes were third in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Overall, the Pirate men accumulated 309 points to finish second behind Cuesta at 445. Bakersfield was a distant third with 220.5 points.
Ventura next returns to San Luis Obispo for the Cuesta Sprints on Thursday March 12 and the Cuesta Invitational on Friday March 13.