OCC Swimmers on Their Marks for State Sweep

The Orange Coast men’s and women’s swim teams are the favorites at the State swimming and diving championships, which start today and continue through Saturday at Cypress College.

The Orange Coast women, with a state-leading 47 entrees, have at least one swimmer or relay team in every event. The Pirates have won five consecutive State titles and nine of the last 10 under Coach Don Watson.

Debbie Baham scored a team-high 51 points as OCC dominated the Orange Empire Conference championships last weekend. The Pirates also are expecting strong performances from Brandi Kossub and Sharon Clairemont, among others.

Golden West, which has 17 entrees, is led by Belinda Kernkamp, Stephanie Kramer and Kate Kilgallen.

Fullerton’s Roxanne Sota is another swimmer to watch. She won the 500 freestyle, the 200 individual medley and the 100 butterfly at the South Coast Conference meet.

The OCC men’s team, also coached by Watson, is seeking its third title in four seasons. Golden West won last season; OCC won in 1991 and 1992.

OCC has at least one entry in every event except the 200 butterfly for a total of 35.

OCC’s top swimmer is Matthias Otte, who won the 200 IM, the 100 backstroke and the 100 butterfly at the Orange Empire Conference meet.

Golden West (30 entrees) and Long Beach are among the teams that could challenge OCC.

Preliminaries are at 10 a.m. and the finals at 5 p.m. each day.

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Men’s volleyball: Orange Coast (15-3) plays American River (12-3) at 4:30 p.m. Friday in one semifinal of the State men’s volleyball tournament in Santa Barbara. Orange Coast, the Orange Empire Conference champion, last won a State title in 1991.

The other semifinal match is Los Angeles Pierce (17-0) against Grossmont (15-4) at 7:30 p.m. The winners advance to the title game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

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Jack Robinson, walk-on softball coach at Saddleback the past three seasons, has resigned.

Robinson had a record of 68-49 in three seasons. Saddleback was 22-18 and 10-11 and tied for fifth place in the Orange Empire Conference this season.

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Women’s soccer: Rancho Santiago has announced that it will field a women’s soccer team starting next fall. The team will be coached by Ed Carrillo, who is also the boys’ soccer coach at Orange High.

Gregory Gicha, former Golden West men’s soccer coach, will take over the Rustler women’s program next fall.

He had a 152-95-32 mark from 1975-89 with the Golden West men’s team.

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Antoine Jefferson, a sophomore forward from Saddleback, has signed a letter of intent to attend Cal State Bakersfield.

Jefferson, from Philadelphia, is Saddleback’s all-time rebounding leader with 643. He averaged 15.5 points and 9.7 rebounds over two seasons for the Gauchos and was a two-time All-Orange Empire Conference player.

Cal State Bakersfield has won the last two NCAA Division II national championships.