Orange Coast Women, Golden West Men Favored to Win State Swimming Titles

Golden West became the first team to win a state title this spring when the Rustlers beat Orange Coast in five games in the men’s volleyball finals Saturday.

But that was just the start of a busy four weeks in which the remainder of the spring sports will advance into playoffs to decide state titles.

Next up is swimming.

The Orange Coast women and the Golden West men are the favorites in the state meet this week at Long Beach State.

Competition starts Thursday and continues through Saturday. Preliminary heats start at 10 a.m. and the finals are at 5 p.m. each day.

In golf: The Southern California championships are Monday at Hesperia Country Club and the state tournament is May 13 at Santa Maria County Club. Both tournaments are 36 holes.

In softball: The regular season ended Monday and the 16 teams going to the playoffs will be announced Saturday. The first round of the playoffs is May 10-11 and four teams from Southern and Northern California meet in the state tournament May 17-19 in Fremont.

In tennis: The Southern California playoffs are Friday and Saturday; men play at Saddleback and women at Southwestern. The state tournament is May 10-11 at the Claremont Club.

In track and field: The Southern California prelims are Saturday at Long Beach and the finals are May 11 at Citrus.

The state meet is May 17-18 at Cerritos.

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The Brothers Pickler: Scott Pickler (baseball) and Brad Pickler (softball) have each had a great deal of coaching success at Cypress.

But this is the first time they each have won Orange Empire Conference titles in the same year. Scott’s teams have won two state titles (1991 and 1994) and this is the Chargers’ third Orange Empire Conference title. The others came in 1989 and 1994.

Brad is in his 10th season and also won a state title in 1991. The Chargers also have won conference titles in 1990, 1991 and 1993.

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The race: While Cypress has secured the conference baseball title, other teams still are involved in a battle for the playoffs.

The top three teams from the conference are assured playoff spots, while the fourth- and fifth-place teams have to hope for wild-card spots.

Saddleback (24-12-1, 13-8) and Rancho Santiago (29-10, 13-8) are tied for second and meet at 2:30 p.m. today at Saddleback.

Saddleback is at Orange Coast (22-16, 6-15) Thursday, then ends the regular season Saturday at Cypress. Rancho Santiago is at Golden West (15-21, 6-15) Thursday and ends by hosting fourth-place Riverside (25-15, 11-11) Saturday.

Fullerton (22-15, 9-13), which is in fifth place and most likely needs two victories to be considered, hosts Orange Coast today and is at Cypress Thursday. The Hornets have a bye on the final day.

The playoff pairings will be announced Monday and the best-of-three first round is May 10-11.

The double-elimination second round is May 17-19, and the state tournament is May 25-27 in Fresno.

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Color change: Orange Coast officials announced that the college, in an effort to better reflect its name, has changed its colors to orange, navy blue (to tie in with the ocean) and white.

The college’s current colors--red, black and white--will be phased out over the coming years as teams purchase new uniforms.

The move will give Orange Coast a distinct look because the Pirates will be the only community college team in Southern California that has orange, blue and white as its colors.

More than a third of the teams in the state use red, including conference-rival Rancho Santiago, plus Long Beach, Palomar, MiraCosta, Santa Barbara, Chaffey and Imperial Valley.