Community College Notebook / Steve Kresal : Women Compete for State Swim Title

Orange Coast and Golden West colleges, less than 10 miles apart, will travel close to 500 miles to most likely decide the state women’s swimming title this weekend.

Orange Coast, which had won four consecutive state titles before finishing second to Diablo Valley last season, is back as the favorite. Golden West and Diablo Valley figure to be the only two teams strong enough to challenge OCC.

The meet starts Thursday and continues through Saturday at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, near Oakland.

Orange Coast has qualified seven swimmers, four divers and four relay teams. Golden West has 10 swimmers and four relay teams, but no divers.

OCC is led by Patti Reed, Karen Paulitschek, and Erika Reetz. Reed has the best time in the state in the 500-yard freestyle (5:05.01.) She also will be in the 200 freestyle and the 100 butterfly.

Paulitschek will swim the 500 freestyle, 50 butterfly and 100 butterfly. Reetz will be in the 500, 200 and 100 freestyles.

Golden West is led by three sophomores, each of whom qualified for three events after qualifying for three last season.

Kris Takayama will be in the 100 individual medley and the 50 and 100 butterfly. Carolyn Bentley will swim the 100 individual medley, 50 breaststroke and 100 breaststroke. Cristi Hugh qualified for the 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley and the 100 butterfly.

This will mark the second time this season that OCC and Golden West have faced each other. OCC, which won the Orange Empire Conference, won the Cuesta Invitational title in March. Golden West, which won the South Coast Conference, finished second and Diablo Valley third at Cuesta.

But Golden West Coach Jem McAdams thinks his team still could challenge OCC.

“We have so much room for improvement from Cuesta that it’s exciting,” McAdams said. “We have a chance to really do some things well and be right there.”

Tennis regionals: Saddleback, the top-seeded men’s team, plays MiraCosta today at 2 p.m. at Rancho San Clemente in the first round of the Southern California dual-team championships.

Orange Coast plays Grossmont at MiraCosta College in another first-round match, also at 2 p.m. today. San Diego Mesa plays Santa Barbara City, and Long Beach plays College of the Desert in the other first-round matches today. The semifinal round is Monday. The Southern California Regional championship is May 10 at Mt. San Antonio College. The Southern California individual regional tournament is at Mt. SAC May 11-13.

The state tournament is at West Valley College May 17-20.

Saddleback baseball: Saddleback is in motion to hire a full-time baseball coach by the end of spring. Jim Brideweser took over the program again this season after coaching from 1982-85, but had to step down for medical reasons a month ago. Brideweser planned to coach this season only.

Assistants Rich Rommel and Charlie Phillips have been running the team since Brideweser stepped down.

Saddleback Athletic Director Bill Otta, who will head the search committee, said there were close to 40 applicants. The committee will start interviewing soon after the regular season ends on Saturday.

Jim Reach will be returning to the Rancho Santiago baseball program as an assistant coach, the college’s sports information department announced Monday. Reach was baseball coach from 1975 to 1981 and compiled a 151-92 record.

He then took over the softball program from 1982 to 1987. Reach’s softball teams had a record of 189-54 and won back-to-back state titles in 1985 and 1986.

Reach will be joining the staff of Don Sneddon, who replaced him in 1982.

Community College Notes

Fullerton’s Willie Barber has to be the hard-luck pitcher of the year. Barber, a sophomore right-hander, is 3-10, but has a very respectable earned-run average of 3.52. Fullerton has scored 25 runs in his 10 losses and no more than five runs in any game. . . . Rancho Santiago shortstop Tim Reynolds has signed a letter of intent to play at Chapman next season. Reynolds, who also has played second and third base, is hitting .423. . . . Cypress pitcher Rich Lodding has made a verbal commitment to play at Pepperdine. . . . Cypress softball pitcher Colleen Moore has signed a letter of intent to play at Cal State Long Beach. Moore, who is 21-7, helped Cypress to a second-place finish behind Fullerton in the Orange Empire Conference this season . . . Vicky Silva, who averaged 24 points and 8.6 rebounds for the Cypress women’s basketball team this season, has made a verbal commitment to play at Cal State Los Angeles next fall.