Community College Notebook / Steve Kresal : OCC and Golden West Defend State Swim Titles

Teams from Orange Coast and Golden West colleges will defend their state titles at the community college swimming championships starting today at Merced.

The Orange Coast women’s team will try for its fourth straight title. The Golden West men’s team has won the state title the past two years. The meet continues through Saturday with preliminaries starting each morning at 10. Finals are Saturday at 5 p.m.

Nine Orange Coast women have qualified for 33 spots in the meet.

Freshman Tina Constable has the best time in the state this season in the 50-yard freestyle (25.25 seconds). She is also entered in the 100 freestyle, the 50 backstroke, the 50 and 100 butterfly and 200 individual medley. Janet Popp is entered in the 50 and 100 breaststroke, the 500 freestyle and the 100 and 200 intermediate medley.

The Golden West men’s team had 30 entries last year but has only 17 this year.

“I just don’t think it’s in the cards this time,” said Ken Hamdorf, Golden West coach. “But if someone stumbles, we’ll be right there, ready to move up.”

Golden West is led by sophomore Jeff Essig, who will swim the 1,650 and 500 freestyle. Jason Jeffries, who was an All-American water polo player last fall, will swim the 500 and 100 freestyle. Mark Allison will swim the 100 and the 200 breaststroke.

The Orange Coast men’s volleyball team will play the winner of the Golden West-Long Beach City match for the Southern California Regional title Friday at 7 p.m. at Long Beach City.

Long Beach City, which finished second in the South Coast Conference, plays third-place Golden West at 2 p.m. Friday. Orange Coast finished first in the South Coast Conference.

Chip Damato, Golden West second baseman, extended his hitting streak to 18 games Tuesday in the Rustlers’ 10-5 victory over El Camino. Damato, a sophomore from Edison High School, was 2 for 4 Tuesday. He’s hitting .388 this season.

Damato won’t get a chance to break the school-record 27-game streak set by Jack Settle in 1978 because Golden West has five games left this season.

Community College Notes

Stacy Rooney, a 6-foot 1-inch center from Fullerton, has signed to attend Cal Poly Pomona next season. . . . Dave Kirksey, a 6-8 center who averaged 9.4 points and 5.5 rebounds for Cypress, signed to attend Heritage Christian, an NAIA school in San Diego, next season. Kirksey was recruited by Swen Nater, a former Cypress, UCLA and NBA player who is an assistant at Heritage. . . . Cerritos, which has won 11 consecutive games, remains the top team in the Southern California baseball poll this week. Orange Coast, which has a one-game lead over Rancho Santiago in the Orange Empire Conference with five games left, is second. Los Angeles Harbor, which has clinched the American Division of the Southern California Conference, is third. College of the Canyons, which has clinched the Southern Division of the Western States Conference, is fourth, Rancho Santiago fifth and Fullerton sixth. Oxnard, which has clinched the Northern Division of the Western States Conference is seventh. Mt. San Antonio is eighth, San Bernardino ninth and Santa Monica 10th. . . . OCC plays at Rancho Santiago Tuesday. If the teams finish tied for the conference title, there will a one-game playoff game May 11 or 12 with the home team decided by a coin flip.