COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : OCC Men, Women Win State Swimming Titles

Orange Coast College easily became the first school to win the men’s and women’s State swimming championships in the same year as the three-day meet finished Saturday at DeAnza College in Cupertino.

The Orange Coast men broke the State meet scoring record with 586 points, more that 200 ahead of second-place Golden West (380) and more than 100 points better than the previous record (473) set by Golden West last year.

OCC’s Tony Harris repeated as State champion in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 15 minutes 46.56 seconds. Andres Roestenberg (15:49.81) finished second as the pair finished three laps ahead of the next nearest competitor. OCC also won Saturday’s 400 freestyle relay (4:06.97).

The Orange Coast women won their seventh State championship in the past eight years and their third in a row. Orange Coast scored 451 points, well ahead of second-place Golden West (328).

Orange Coast’s 200 medley relay team of Jenni Shelden, Tricia Gibb, Christine Williams and Mandy Wightman won in 1:52.27, and Sheldon, Williams, Wightman and Gayle Markert teamed to win the 200 freestyle relay (1:40.46).

Wightman won the 500 and 200 freestyles and finished third in the 100 freestyle (54.09), scoring a team-high 56 points.

In Orange Empire baseball:

Rancho Santiago 17, Fullerton 7--Rancho Santiago (36-9, 18-6) scored 10 runs in the third inning, including a grand slam by Mark Wasikowski, to easily defeat visiting Fullerton (25-18, 11-13).

In other Orange Empire Conference games:

Golden West 5, Cypress 4--Jason White had two hits, including a home run, and scored twice for host Golden West (15-21, 10-14).

Saddleback 7, Riverside 6--Ryan Relph had two hits and scored three runs, including what proved to be the game-winner, for visiting Saddleback (16-23, 8-16).

In the Orange Empire Conference men’s tennis finals at Golden West College:

Saba wins title--Esteban Saba of Saddleback College defeated teammate Scott Clark, 6-2, 6-4, to win the conference singles title. Saba had finished second to teammate Scott Hansen in the Ojai tournament last week.

In doubles, Steve Arnott and Jim Johnson of Golden West defeated Hansen and Saba of Saddleback, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

In the Orange Empire Conference women’s tennis championships:

Henson the champion--Ching Henson of Cypress won the singles title by defeating Orange Coast’s Dawn Baird, 7-6, 7-6, in the final at Fullerton College. Henson advanced to the championship match when semifinal opponent Michelle Jannone of Orange Coast failed to show and defaulted. Baird upset top-seeded Stephanie Bruce of Riverside, 6-3, 6-1, in the other semifinal.

Henson and Helen Lu won the doubles title by default from Jannone and Baird.