Santa Barbara Women and Ventura Men Claim Yet Another WSC Swim Crown

Santa Maria, CA - The Santa Barbara City College Women's Swim and Dive team claimed their third straight Western State Conference title over the weekend, while the Ventura College Men claimed their fourth straight title. It's the third title in four years of existence for Santa Barbara, while Ventura wins their 28th overall swim championship.

 In one of the tightest races in recent memory, Santa Barbara City College held off the Ventura College Women 635 to 537 for the 2017 title. The Vaqueros picked up two relay wins in the 400 and 800 Free Relays, and then relied on four different individual titles to win the crown. Diver Gina Jacobsen, who set two conference records for total points and was named the Diver of the Meet, won both the 1M and 3M events with 225.10 and 250.05 points respectively. Alex Humann meanwhile won two events for the Vaqueros claiming the title in the 500 Free (5:19.80) and 200 Free (1:58.88) races. Reese Ellestad took home the other title for the Vaqueros winning the 100 Free with a time of 53.92. 

For the men, Ventura ran away from the crowd thanks to a consistent effort across the board. The Pirates won just three individual titles, but were consistently in the Top 3 in each event, accumulating 756.5 points against 509 points from second place Santa Monica College. In addition to the three individual titles, the Pirates won the 200 and 400 Free Relay events. Deon Crilly helped the Pirates out by winning the 3M Diving title by just 1.65 points with 133.65 total points. Kaleb Rodarte would win the 400 IM (4:15.87), while Thomas Bunke won the 1650 Free (16:50.12), and David Peterson took home the grueling 200 Fly crown (1:58.04).

Cuesta College's Lauren Davis was named the Female Swimmer of the Meet after winning three meet events and setting a pair of conference records. LA Valley College's Timothy Hornyak and Santa Monica College's Zhen Teo were name Co-Male Swimmer's of the Meet after each won three events. Ventura Men's Swim Coach Mary Giles was named the 2017 Male Coach of the Year, while Santa Barbara City College's Brian "Chucky" Roth and Cuesta College's John Marsh split the Female Coach of the Year award.