Dimino leads Gauchos at opening meet

The Saddleback men's swim and dive team finished in seventh place at the Golden West Invitation on Friday in Huntington Beach.  The Gauchos were led by Andrew Dimino, who capture individual medalist honors in the 100-yard freestyle race.

Dimino had a sensational first outing of the year, winning the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 49.76.  He coasted into the finals with a time of 52.05 in the prelims before turning on the jets in the finals to beat Riverside's Sennes Chow by 0.32 seconds. 

Saddleback had a number of other top-10 performances turned in on Friday.  Luke Prendiville finished sixth in the 500-yard freestyle (5:17.12) before finishing eighth in the 50-yard fly race (27.72).  David Breen was another with two top-10 finishes when he was eighth in both the 100-yard backstroke (1:05.55) and 200-yard individual medley (2:27.39).  Nick Deloney finished eighth in the 100-yard fly (59.22) while finishing ninth in the 200-yard freestyle race (1:58.56).

Saddleback also turned in sixth place finishes in both the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:37.09) and the 800-yard freestyle relay (8:10.81).

Saddleback will be back in the water when they host an Orange Empire Conference event this Friday.  Meet time is scheduled for 10:00 AM at the Saddleback Aquatics Center.