The Ventura College men's and women's swimming and diving teams competed well Friday and Saturday at the Mt. San Antonio Invitational with the men placing sixth of 19 teams and the women coming in ninth of 21 schools. Jaiden Monroe was the top scorer for the men with four Top-7 finishes while Olivia Badaracco led the women with VC's lone gold of the meet.
Monroe claimed a silver medal in the 100-yard butterfly and came in fourth in the 50-yard fly. He also finished sixth in the 200-yard backstroke and touched seventh in the 100-yard freestyle.
Nick Santander, meanwhile, earned points in three events. He came in ninth in the 50-yard fly, 15thin the 100-yard free and 16th in the 200-yard free. Michael Ramirez was 13th in the 100-yard individual medley, 12th in the 200-yard backstroke and 16th in the 100-yard back. Brayden Black claimed the eighth spot in the 1m diving competition while Michael Soho was 12th in the 200-yard IM and 16th in the 200-yard breast stroke. Luigi Travi touched in 11th in the 100-yard backstroke.
VC's men also placed in four relays. The Pirates were sixth in the 400-yard medley relay, seventh in the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays, and eighth in the 200-yard medley relay.
The Ventura men earned 206 team points on the weekend, a distant sixth behind Las Positas with 317.5 and ahead of Modesto with 175. Mt. SAC won the meet with 948 points and Sierra was second.
Badaracco earned the Pirates' lone gold of the day, touching in 58.74 in the 200-yard backstroke to claim gold. She was also 16th in the 100-yard IM.
Ava Carey placed 14th in the 400-yard IM and 15th in the 200-yard IM while Stevie Sturges was sixth in the 50-yard breast stroke. Kenda Gibson touched in 11th in the 50-yard butterfly and Carissa Clay was 15th in the 50-yard breast stroke. Ami Cruz finished 16th in the 1650-yard free.
Ventura finished in eighth place in the 200-yard medley relay along with the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays. The Pirates were 12th in the 400-yard medley relay.
VC scored 124 points to finish in ninth place overall, behind Cuesta (204 points) and ahead of Santa Monica (93 points). Santa Barbara (891.5 points) won the meet followed by Mt. SAC and Sierra.
Both the VC men and women next travel to the Riverside Invitational on Friday and Saturday March 7 and 8.