(Walnut) – John M. Sherrard – After day one of the South Coast Conference men's and women swimming and diving championships, the Mt. SAC men are in first and the women are just three points out of first.
The three-day event, being held at Cerritos College, will continue Friday and conclude Saturday with the prelims at 10:00 am and finals at 3:30pm. The men will be aiming for their third consecutive conference title.
The Mt. SAC men, who finished the season undefeated in conference and have not lost a dual meet since 2010, hold a 41-point lead over second place Long Beach City College heading into day two.
The women, meanwhile, are just three points behind first-place Pasadena City College.
Leading the way for the men with one first place finish each was sophomore Phillip Wright (Pacific Coast HS) in the 500 yard freestyle and freshman Kyle Chang (West Covina HS) in the 200 yard individual medley.
Top finishers for the women was freshman Brittney Anderson (San Dimas HS) and freshman Kaitlyn Dickinson (Chino Hills HS) placing seconds in the 500 free and 200 IM respectively. Mt. SAC also placed second in the 200 free relay and 400 medley relay.
The four swimmers on the 200 free relay team were: Nicole Phan (SO, Walnut HS), Madeline Budds (Fr, Upland HS), Jazzie Hernandez (Fr, Covina HS) and Kaitlyn Dickinson (Fr, Chino Hills HS). On the 400 yard medley relay team were: Budds, Phan, Dickinson and Sophomore Shania Fontanilla (Roosovelt HS).
Wright, who was the 2015 SCC men's swimmer of the year, repeated as the 500 free champion with a time of 4:37.99. He has two events remaining, the 400 IM on Friday and the 1650 freestyle on Saturday.
Chang won his event with a time of 1:58.80 and also has two remaining events, the 200 free on Friday and 200 yard back stroke on Saturday.
In the 1 meter diving, finishing fourth for the Mt. SAC women was freshman Melody Waintal (Ayala HS) and a pair of freshmen, Esteban Martinnez (Walnut HS) and Anthony Teitlebaum (Pacific Palisades Charter School) finished third and fourth respectively in the 3 meter diving event for the Mounties. Esteban Martinez's score qualified him for the state championships.
Following the conference championships this weekend is the CCCAA state championships May 5-7 at East Los Angeles College.