The Ventura College men's and women's swim teams hosted the Western State Conference #1 Meet Friday at the Ventura Aquatic Center with the men finishing first of the three participating teams and the women third of five schools. Jack Pickett led the men with two individual first place finishes and one relay gold while Maria Petraitis, Paige Treloar-Ballard and Alejendra Medina each placed in two individual events for the women.
The VC men totaled 152 points to win the meet, followed by Cuesta at 102 and Los Angeles Pierce with 61. Cuesta won the women's meet in a tight contest with 94 points, followed by Allan Hancock at 92 and VC with 88. Citrus had 75 points and LA Pierce was a distant fifth with 25.
Pickett led a strong VC effort on the men's side, winning the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.32 and winning the 100-yard freestyle in 48.86. He was also part of the first-place 200-yard freestyle relay team along with David Peterson, Thomas Bunker and Kaleb Rodarte. Bunker also won the 500-yard and 1,000-yard freestyle events in 5:01.98 and 10:34.0, respectively.
The 200-yard medley relay team of Jack Burleigh, Kevin Smallwood, Derek Krzyski and Rodarte came in first with a mark of 1:45.04. Burleigh won the 100-yard backstroke in 57.78 while Smallwood won the 100-yard breast stroke at 1:05.31. David Peterson was victorious in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:52/36.
In the diving competition, David Kromka was first in both the 1m and 3m competitions and Deonn Crilly came in second in both.
For the Pirate women, Petraitis was second in the 200-yard individual medley and third in the 100-yard breast stroke. She also joined Medina, Maeve Flynn and Treloar-Ballard on the 200-yard medley relay for a third place finish. Treloar-Ballard was also third in the 200-yard freestyle and third in the 100-yard butterfly. Flynn was also fourth in the 100-yard butterfly.
Individually, Medina was third in the 200-yard IM and third in the 100-yard backstroke. Kaitlyn Peters finished third in both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle races and Kaylene Lehr was fourth in the 500-yard freestyle. The team of Flynn, Lehr, Kelsey Golden and Peters came in second in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
The Pirates will next head to the Cuesta Invitational in San Luis Obispo on Friday and Saturday, March 10 and 11.