Samayoa, Park Claim State Titles on Day One of 3C2A State Championships
COSTA MESA, Calif. --- Freshman Iyanah Samayoa and sophomore Mia Park each claimed a state title on day one of the 3C2A State Championships at the Orange Coast College Aquatics Pavilion in Costa Mesa, Calif.
Samayoa entered the event with the second best seed time and also qualified second overall in the prelims earlier in the morning behind state leader and favorite Noemi Bravo-Guzman of Allan Hancock, who entered the day with a season-best 2:07.91. Bravo-Guzman qualified with the top time in prelims and the two swimmers went down to the wire in the final.
Samayoa swam the breaststroke leg in 35.69 to overtake Bravo-Guzman for the lead and then Samayoa out-touched her opponent, finishing in 2:07.32 to claim the victory and also overtake Park's ECC record in the event by 0.46. Bravo-Guzman touched the wall in 2:07.51 for second place and Ema Klimauskas of Santa Monica finished third in 2:09.81.
Meanwhile, Park claimed her second straight state championship in the 500 free and entered the day with the season's top time in the event, more than eight seconds better than Lily Carrick of Santa Barbara. Although the final was much closer, Park still prevailed with a time of 4:59.51, shaving more than four seconds off her time from last year's state-title winning swim. Carrick finished second in 5:01.03 and Caroline Oates of Santa Barbara finished third in 5:05.53.
The women's 400 medley relay team of Diana Nguyen, Samayoa, Park and Raina Henty-Dodd also posted a podium finish on Thursday, placing second with a time of 4:01.95. Park swam her butterfly in 56.44 and Henty-Dodd's freestyle anchor leg of 56.27 helped the Warriors make a late run at the leaders but Santa Barbara took home the gold in 3:59.33. West Valley placed third in 4:02.69.
After one day, the ECC women are currently second in the team standings with 104 points, trailing Santa Barbara which holds the lead with 148 points. The ECC men are currently tied for fifth with American River as each team has 78 points with everyone looking up at Sierra's 198 points. Orange Coast is second with 176 and Cuesta is third with 85 points.
On the men's side, the highlight came in the prelims as Justin Rash set a new school record in the 50 free, posting a time of 21.03. He lowered his own record that he set at the SCC Championships with a 21.08.
Other finishes for the Warriors on Thursday:
- Women's 200 free relay team (Park, Henty-Dodd, Nguyen, Samayoa), fourth place (1:39.33)
- Fin Kircher, fifth in 200 IM (1:52.10)
- Men's 400 free relay team (Kircher, Ryan Song, Yousefi, Rash), sixth (3:29.64)
- Rash, seventh in 50 free finals (21.06)
- Men's 200 free relay team (Alex Yousefi, Fin Kircher, Vincenzo Crivello, Rash), eighth place (1:25.10)
Day two of the 3C2A State Championships begins Friday with prelims at 9 a.m.