Park Wins State Title in 500 Freestyle

3C2A State Championships Day One Results (PDF)

MONTEREY PARK, Calif. – Freshman Mia Park won the California Community College Athletics Association State Championship in the 500-yard freestyle on Thursday afternoon at the East Los Angeles College Swim Stadium.

Park completed her first day of competition at the 3C2A State Championships with the top prize after qualifying with the top seedtime of 5:03.58, nearly seven seconds faster than the next best qualifier for the finals.

In the final, Park faced off against fierce competition including the defending state champion in the 500 free; Giselle Quinonez of Orange Coast College.

After the first 50-yard split, Park (26.46) held a narrow lead over Maya Garcia-Hale (26.59) of Grossmont and nearly a two-second lead over Quinonez (28.63).

At the 300-yard split, Park was the only swimmer with a time under three minutes (2:58.42) and held more than a three-second lead over Quinonez.

Park would only pull away from there as her 30.93 closing split was the fastest of all the swimmers in the field, helping her claim the state title with a time of 5:04.73, nearly three seconds better than Quinonez (5:07.09) who posted a better time than her state-championship winning swim last year.

Park has two events left at the 3C2A State Championships with the 200-yard freestyle up next on Friday. The prelims for the day are set to begin at 9 a.m. with the finals set to begin at 4:30 p.m. Park's final race will come on Saturday in the 100 freestyle.