College Swimming : Orange Coast Women Easily Beat Cypress for Fourth Straight Title

The Orange Coast College women’s swim team, on the strength of Cheri Carpenter, won its fourth straight South Coast Conference title with an 84-40 win over Fullerton at the Cypress College pool.

The Pirates (7-0, 8-0), two-time defending state champions, have won 42 consecutive dual meets over the last five seasons.

Carpenter was involved in three Orange Coast victories Friday.

She was part of the Pirates’ 200-yard medley relay team that won with a time of 1:59.40.

She took the 200-yard freestyle in 2:00.61. And in the 100-yard freestyle, she won with a time of 54.74--fastest in the state this year.

Carpenter, who attended Estancia High School, was the high point scorer in last year’s state meet. She has qualified to compete in nine events at state meet this year.

The Orange Coast men’s team defeated Fullerton, 79-23, to finish third in league.

The Pirates’ 400-yard freestyle relay team of Karl Stewart, Steve Sturdivant, T.J. Prendergast and Jof Abshire qualified for the state meet with a time of 3:17.80.

Abshire, a sophomore, also won the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 48.56 and the 200-yard freestyle in 1:49.41.

In other South Coast Conference women’s action:

Cypress 81, Rancho Santiago 45--The Chargers were led by double winners Ann Kidder and Andrea Bennett. Kidder, a sophomore, won the 50-yard backstroke (36.2) and the 100-yard back (1:17.24). Bennett won the 100-yard butterfly (1:07.6) and the 500-yard freestyle (5:33.86). Tracy Paxton won the 100-yard breaststroke (1:20.4) and Jennifer Nootbaar won the 50-yard breaststroke (35.7).