2022 SWIMMING & DIVING OEC CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW

The 2022 Orange Empire Conference (OEC) Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving Championships are set to kick off on Thursday, April 21 – Saturday, April 23 on the campus of Riverside City College. A handful of competitors will fight for the top spot as the field is full of talented individuals representing Cypress, Fullerton, Golden West, Orange Coast, Riverside and Saddleback.

All tournament information can be found below. There will be a three-day live stream provided on the Riverside Athletics YouTube channel free of charge along with live results compliments of SwimPhone.com. All fans in attendance must be fully vaccinated or provide a negative COVID-19 test. If you do not have either, a rapid test can be provided.

Championship Page · Live Stream · Live Results · RCC COVID-19 Fan Policy

On the men's side, Orange Coast looks to be the favorite to take home the championship as they hold top times in 11 events. Ethan Smith holds the fastest mark in four events to highlight the Pirates. He leads the way in the 100 Fly (49.21), 50 Free (20.88), 100 Free (47.00) and the 200 Free (1:43.11). Tatsuki Inoue follows with top times in the 500 Free (4:46.75) and the 100 Back (50.22), while holding the second-best time in the 100 Fly (51.71). Andrew Leong rounds out the top swimmers with field-high clips in the 100 IM (53.75) and the 200 IM (1:55.06).

Golden West's Srboljub Filipovic leads the way in the 100 Breast (57.94) and the 200 Breast (2:08.86), while also having a fourth place mark in the 200 IM (1:58.89). Cypress owns a handful of swimmers that hold top marks starting with Ethan Umpornpuckdi's 1650 Free (17:12.14), backed by Saywer Nering's time in the 50 Back (30.55). Umpornpuckdi also lands second overall in the 400 IM (4:10.28) and the 200 Breast (2:08.96). Brandon Rubio is responsible for the top mark in the 50 Fly (26.28) and the second-strongest mark in the 100 IM (1:01.27).

Saddleback's Jack Stevens highlights the Bobcats' efforts after holding the third strongest time in the 50 Free (21.75) and the 200 Fly (1:56.88). Riverside's Seth Zarn leads the pack in the 50 Breast (30.66), while Ilias Massignan boasts the second-best mark in the 1650 Free (18:04.14).

For the women, Orange Coast leads the pack with seven top times in conference action. Yuuri Yoshikawa and Giselle Quinonez lead the way as each of them have earned three top times.

Yoshikawa paces the field in the 50 Free (25.77), 100 Breast (1:10.94) and the 100 IM (1:06.08). Additionally, she ranks second in the 200 Breast (2:37.51) and third in the 200 IM (2:24.18).

Quinonez is top two in all four of her events with top marks showing in the 200 Free (2:01.50), 500 Free (5:24.21) and the 1650 Free (18:59.21). She is a mere four one hundredths of a second from the top spot in the 100 Free (56.77).

The top spot belongs to Fullerton's Anoushka Jaievsky in the 100 Free (56.73). She also has field-pacing clips in four other events featuring the 200 Breast (2:34.52) 100 Fly (1:01.79), 200 IM (2:21.16) and 400 IM (4:58.78), arguably tabbing her the strongest swimmer in the meet.

Riverside boasts four top marks held by three different swimmers. Valerie Juarez paces the Tigers with two top marks in the 50 Fly (29.54) and the 200 Fly (2:30.13). Lara Pilar paces the field in the 50 Back (29.72) while also holding the second strongest time in the 100 Back (1:03.43). Lauren Loffelmacher has earned the top time in the 200 Back (2:18.85), while pocketing two second best marks in the 200 IM (2:23.51) and the 400 IM (5:06.22).

Cypress has one top mark held by Marisol Narvaez in the 100 Breast (1:15.53). Saddleback's highest finish is at the hands of Irie Jimenez who holds the second strongest time in the 50 Breast (35.70).

* Story by Nicho DellaValle, Riverside City College SID