Gaucho men fourth at OEC Finals

The Saddleback men's swim and dive team finished in fourth place at the Orange Empire Conference Finals this weekend at Riverside City College.  The Gauchos had 15 finishes in the top-8 along with a new program record.

Saddleback did some great things in the pool this weekend competing against some of the top programs in the state.  The Orange Empire Conference has been responsible for winning 24 of the past 34 state titles in swimming and had three programs finish in the top eight last spring at the state finals.

Saddleback had a number of great performances, with a handful of times that made the program's top-50 list.  The top performance was turned in by Andrew Dimino, who broke the program record in the 50 Freestyle in the prelim round when he touched the wall in 21.20.  He broke the record of 21.21 set by Skyler Campbell in 2013 and went on to finish eighth in the finals with a time of 21.27 (3^rd all-time).    Dimino wasn't finished as he then finished fifth in the 200 Freestyle with a time of 1:44.66, which was the 12^th fastest time in program history.

Another having a big weekend was Patrick Workman, who finished fourth in the 100 Backstroke and fifth in the 200 Backstroke.  Workman had the fifth fastest time in program history in the 100 Backstroke finals when he finished in a time of 53.98.  His time in the 200 Backstroke (2:00.18) ended up being the 13th fastest time in program history.

Not to be outdone, Keyan Boniadi finished in the top-5 in three separate events.  Boniadi started by finishing fifth in the 200 Individual Medley with a time of 1:59.55.  It was the 24^th fastest time in program history and set the stage for the final two days.  He then was fourth in the 400 Individual Medley and touched the wall with the 12^th fastest time in program history in the prelims with a time of 4:17.01.  Boniadi finished off the meet with a fourth place finish in the 200 Fly and set a personal best with a time of 1:57.04 in the prelims.  His time in the prelims ranks 12^th all-time in program history.

The lone win for the meet was from diver Jeff Rebrukh, who captured a win in the 1-meter dive and finished second in the 3-meter dive.  Rebrukh started by scoring 154.75 in the 3-meter competition, finishing one spot in front of teammate Kenneth Catacutan.  He then stunned the crowd by capturing the 1-meter competition with a score of 169.95.

Three more competitors had top-8 finishes as Luke Prendiville, Daniel Peralta and Joshua Mourer all scored points for the Gauchos.  Prediville was a sixth place finisher in the grueling 1,650 Freestyle race when he set a personal best in the finals with a time of 17:41.23 (41^st all-time).  Peralta had the 42^nd fastest time in program history in the 100 Fly when he finished eighth in a time of 55.89.  Mourer set a personal best in the 400 Individual Medley (4:31.02) when he finished eighth. 

Saddleback also had its fastest time of the season in the 200 Freestyle Relay when the team finished third in a time of 1:27.67.  The time was just 1.03 seconds off the school record set in 2014.

Saddleback will be back in the pool at the state championships at De Anza College on May 3-5. 

TEAM SCORES: