Pirates earn third spot at OEC Meet
COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College women's swim team earned third place overall with 438 points at Friday's Orange Empire Conference meet, at the OCC Swim Pavilion.
The Pirates' team score trailed only Riverside (639) and Golden West (445), with OCC finishing ahead of Saddleback (352), Cypress (265) and Fullerton (236).
Coast came through with NINE first-place performances against the rest of the OEC competition, including two relays and seven individual races.
In the opening race -- the 400-yard freestyle relay -- the OCC foursome of Analiese Duncan, Ariah Martinez, Ayla Puente and Leyna Nguyen left the competition in their wake with a winning time of 3:45.67. Golden West was a distant second, nearly 15 seconds behind the Pirates with a runner-up time of 4:00.53.
In the meet finale, Duncan, Martinez, Nguyen and Emma Steffens took care of business in the 400 medley relay with a winning time of 4:34.31
Duncan and Nguyen each earned three first-place marks in their individual performances as well. Duncan took first in the 200 individual medley (2:11.28), 100 breaststroke (1:08.1) and the 200 breaststroke (2:31.48), while Nguyen brought home the gold in the 50 freestyle (24.5), the 100 butterfly (1:01.61) and 100 freestyle (54.25).
Steffens earned her individual top spot in the 100 backstroke, touching the wall first with a time of 1:03.49.
Other top-3 times turned in by the Pirates included ...
SECOND PLACE
500 Freestyle -- Emma Steffens, 5:37.92
50 Freestyle -- Ariah Martinez, 25.97
100 Butterfly -- Ayla Puente, 1:02.24
THIRD PLACE
200 Backstroke -- Emma Steffens, 2:29.33
100 Freestyle -- Ariah Martinez, 58.26
The Pirates will return to action on Friday, April 3 as they host the 2026 OCC Invitational, beginning at 9:30 a.m.
