Orange Coast Seeks 90th Victory in a Row

The Orange Coast women’s swimming team travels to Riverside Wednesday in search of its 90th consecutive dual-meet victory. The Orange Empire Conference meet is at 3 p.m.

The streak is believed to be the longest in any sport in State history.

OCC women’s swimming has been the most dominant sports program in the state in the last 10 seasons. The Pirates have won nine State titles, including the last five.

Orange Coast appears in fine shape for another title run this season. OCC won the Mt. San Antonio Invitational Saturday with 693 points. Saddleback was a distant second with 374 points.

The Pirates are even stronger than usual this season because of diver Tina Edwards, who won the three-meter competition and was second in the one meter Saturday at Mt. SAC. This is the first time in three seasons the Pirates have had a diver.

Among the Pirates’ top swimmers are sophomores Brandi Kossub, Deborah Baham and Sharon Clairemont.

Kossub set a national record in the 50 backstroke and a state mark in the 100 backstroke last year in the State meet. Baham was a member of the OCC 400 freestyle team that set a state record last season.

The OCC men’s team is a favorite for the State title as well. The Pirates also took first at Mt. San Antonio.

OCC’s Grant Ferguson set a meet record with a time of 58.16 seconds in the 100 breaststroke. He also won the 400 individual medley and was second in the 100 butterfly.

He also was on three relay teams that set meet records.

OCC will participate in Friday’s Cuesta Invitational, the top meet before State.

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Men’s basketball wrap: Although no Orange County team made it to last weekend’s State tournament at UC Irvine there were players with local ties taking part.

At the top of the list was Ventura’s Brandon Jessie, from Edison High School. Jessie, the State’s co-player of the year, put on an impressive three-night show.

Jessie, a 6-foot-5 forward, had 28 points and 11 rebounds in the Pirates’ 93-73 quarterfinal victory over Cosumnes River. He came back with 26 points as Ventura beat Riverside, 87-83, in a semifinal game. He scored 24 points in the championship game, won by Long Beach, 63-61. Jessie was an all-tournament selection.

Jessie is being recruited by Duke, UCLA and Wake Forest, among others.

Saddleback’s Tes Whitlock, an All-State selection, and Antoine Jefferson were key contributors in the South’s 136-115 victory over the North in Saturday’s All-Star game.

Whitlock had 19 points, which tied for the game high. Jefferson had 13 points and also tied for a game-high with 11 rebounds.

Whitlock and Jefferson are being recruiting by Hawaii and New Mexico State.

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More basketball: Without the help of a local team and only slight interest showed by the local papers, there was some question about how well the State tournament would draw.

But the crowds didn’t suffer, mostly because of the Ventura supporters. Long Beach beat Ventura in the final in front of about 4,000. The crowd was a little larger and much louder that one that saw Rancho Santiago beat Long Beach in the 1991 title game in the same building.

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Baseball race: Riverside holds a two-game lead over Saddleback and Cypress after the end of the first round in the baseball race.

The Tigers (16-2) went 6-0 in the first round. Cypress (16-5) and Saddleback (9-5-1) are tied at 4-2. Rancho Santiago (15-5) and Fullerton (9-8-1) are 3-3. Golden West is 7-10, 1-5, and Orange Coast is 3-11, 0-6.

Rancho Santiago started last week with a 3-0 mark in conference but suffered consecutive losses to Cypress, Riverside and Fullerton. The victory by Fullerton was the fourth in five attempts over the last two seasons over the Dons, the defending State champions.

Notes

The State men’s basketball tournament is scheduled to return to UC Irvine next March, but there is a strong chance that Orange County also will be host to the women’s tournament. Orange Coast has put in a bid to host the tournament. The college has received preliminary approval and is waiting for the official word from the State and its own administration.