The Ventura College men's swim team raced out to the early lead, and the VC women are second after day one of the three-day Western State Conference Championships in San Luis Obispo Thursday. Austin Hammond led the way for the Pirates with a win in the 500 yard freestyle while a pair of relays took second to lead the way for the women.
Hammond claimed the Pirates' lone individual gold of the day, turning in a mark of 4:48.14 in the 500 yard freestyle. He also helped the 400 yard medley relay team pull a fourth place finish along with Marcus Rodarte, Jack Pickett and James Heckman. The latter trio included Derek Krzyski to win the Pirates' other top finish of the day in the 200 yard freestyle relay.
Heckman earned the silver medal in the 50 yard freestyle while Pickett, Kenneth Quach, Krzyski and Parker Larriue all earned points in the event.
Thomas Bunker claimed VC's other medal in competition Thursday, finishing third behind Hammond in the 500 yard freestyle. Trevor Edwards, Sam Robertson, Greg Berardinelli and Brandon Haase also earned points in the distance event.
Rodarte finished fourth in the 200 yard individual medley while James Abernathy and Keaton Hess finished with points for VC.
The Pirates totaled 203 points on the day followed by LA Valley with 173 and Canyons with 136.
For the Pirate women, Paige Treloar-Ballard, Mikala Cvijanovich and Maria Petraitis led the team to a pair of silver medal finishes in the relays. The trio was joined by Cheyanne Irigoyen to claim second in the 200 yard freestyle relay in the first event of the day. Raquel Rodriguez joined the group to help earn second in the 400 yard medley relay.
Individually, Trelor-Ballard, Cvijanovich and Irigoyen finished fourth, fifth and seventh, respectively in the 50 yard freestyle. VC had six swimmers earn points in the 500 yard freestyle, led by Delani Clark in fifth, Allison Olney in sixth and Rodriguez in eighth. Maeve Flynn, Quinn Cotter and Christina Tellez also earned points in the 20-lap endurance test.
Allison Herman finished with a fifth place finish in the 200 yard individual medley.
Ventura totaled 174 points on the day, behind Santa Barbara with 222. Host Cuesta was a distant third with 92 points.
The championships continue Friday and Saturday April 22 and 23 at Cuesta College outside of San Luis Obispo.