Ventura, CA -- The 2015 Western State Conference Swimming Championships got underway on Thursday morning and evening. After one day of competition the Santa Barbara City College Women and the Ventura College Men staked themselves to early leads in the team competition.
The evening sessions opened up with Cuesta College, edging Santa Barbara in the Women's 200 Yard Free Relay with a time of 1:40.80. The Ventura Men meanwhile picked up some big points with a win in that same race, and a time of 1:25.02. In the Women's 500 Yard Free it was Santa Barbara's Katherine Warren who won the event with a time of 5:20.51. On the men's side Santa Monica's Gabriel Miranda won the event with a time of 4:42.08.
Things really got going when the 200 IM rolled around. Santa Barbara's Rachelle Visser broke the conference record in the event with a time of 2:09.08, beating the next closest competitor by over four seconds. On the men's side Ventura's Marcus Rodarte just edged Bakersfield College's Erik Wood with a time of 1:58.43, nine one-hundredths of a second faster than Wood.
In the 50 Free, it was Cuesta's Racheal Gruetzmacher who won the event with a time of 23.82, one and a half seconds faster than the next closest competitor. Ventura's Mitchell Ongstad did the same, winning with a time of 20.71 seconds. The first day wrapped up with the 400 Yard Medley Relay, an event Santa Barbara won on the women's side with a time of 4:09.19. Ventura College kept it going with a win on the men's side in that event as well posting a time of 3:34.03.
Through the first day, Santa Barbara tallied 183 points on the women's side just 35 points clear of second place Cuesta College. Ventura meanwhile scored an impressive 210 points in the first day, 48 points better than second place Bakersfield College.
Day two will resume on Friday at the Ventura Aquatics Center.