Gauchos fourth in the water

The Saddleback men's swim team finished in fourth place at the Orange Empire Conference meet on Friday at the Saddleback Aquatics Center.  The Gauchos had close to 20 top-10 performances on the day.

Saddleback was in the pool with some of the best competition in the state as programs from the Orange Empire Conference have captured 24 of the past 34 state championships.  The Gauchos faired quite well, finishing right in the middle of the pack in placing fourth out of seven teams.

Saddleback had 18 different top-10 finishes on the day, with nine of them finishing in the top-5.  The Gauchos were led in swimming events by Luke Prendiville, Andrew Dimino and Keyan Boniadi.   

Prendiville finished third in the 1,650 Freestyle and seventh in the 500 Freestyle.  He touched the pad in 18:18.33 in the 1,650 Freestyle while finishing the 500 Freestyle in 5:16.91.

Dimino had three top-5 finishes of his own.  He was fourth in both the 50 Freestyle (22.15) and 100 Freestyle (48.18) while finishing fifth in the 200 Freestyle (1:50.90).  Dimino took 0.73 seconds off his time from a week earlier in the 50 Freestyle while cutting his time in the 100 Freestyle by 0.75 seconds.  He was nearly six seconds faster in his time in the 200 Freestyle from a week earlier at the Golden West Invitational. 

Boniadi was also a top-5 finisher, finishing fifth in the 200 Fly (2:06.03).  He then finished sixth in the 100 Fly (56.05) and 9^th in the 200 Individual Medley (2:06.35).

Other top-10 performances were turned in by Patrick Workman (100 Back, 200 Back), Brent McClain (50 Free), Daniel Peralta (100 Fly, 200 Back) and Joshua Mourer (100 Free).

Saddleback was dominant in diving events with Jeff Rebrukh finishing first in the 1-meter dive and second in the 3-meter dive.  Rebrukh scored a 218.75 in the 1-meter while scoring 194.65 in the 3-meter.  Kenneth Catacutan finished third in the 1-meter dive (148.05). 

Saddleback's relay teams finished fourth in the 200 Freestyle Relay (1:32.40) and fifth in the 200 Medley Relay (1:49.28).

Saddleback will be back in the water on March 23 at Riverside City College.

TEAM SCORES: