The VC men's and women's swimming and diving teams continued to produced strong performances Friday on the second day of the Western State Conference Championships at the Ventura Aquatic Center. Ella Montano won gold in the 100-yard breast stroke while Cameron Habib and Nick Santander each claimed silver in the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke events, respectively.
As a team, the Pirate men continued to ride in second place in the nine-team competition while the Ventura women continued in fourth among the 10 competing teams.
Montano produced the Pirates best finish of the day, winning the 100-yard breaststroke, posting a mark of 1:08.72. Gabrielle MacNeill and JoJo Thayne came in 14th and 16th in the B-Final of the same event.
Cassidy Yanca touched in fourth in the 200-yard freestyle and Caitlyn Hilgenberg earned points in seventh place in the 100-yard backstroke. Ava Carey placed eighth in the 400-yard individual medley. Sarah Glassman, Izabel Magana and Isabella Palacios came in seventh, ninth and 10th, respectively, in the 100-yard butterfly.
AnnMarie Patterson, Hilgenberg, Carey and Yanca were third in the 800-yard freestyle relay while Hilgenberg, Montano, Carey and Glassman placed fifth in the 200-yard medley relay.
The VC men's 200-yard medley relay of Santander, Michael Soho, Merrick Giles and Habib got the day started off with a third-place finish.
Habib claimed his individual silver in the 200-yard freestyle event while Santander was second in the 100-yard backstroke, followed by Luigi Travi in third and Kyle Quach in ninth.
Soho won bronze in the 100-yard breaststroke with Jessie Zepeda and Alex Tamayo winning the B-Final, finishing ninth and tenth, respectively. Giles came in fourth in the 100-yard butterfly followed by Fabian Moreno in 11th. Carlos Gonzalez and Nathan Willeford touched in fourth and seventh, respectively, in the 400-yard individual medley.
In the final race of the day, Gonzalez, Morales, Soho and Santander placed fourth in the 800-yard freestyle relay.
The WSC Championships will conclude on Saturday April 20 with preliminaries at 9:00 am and the finals at 4:00 pm at the Ventura Aquatic Center.