South Coast Individuals Grab Awards At State Swim Meet
The South Coast Conference hasn't had a recent history of big success in swimming and diving, but the 2019 CCCAA State Championships May 2-4 at De Anza College proved to a memorable meet for SCC student-athletes.
Mt. San Antonio College's Jason Harary was awarded the Men's Swim Performance of the Meet, El Camino's Ida Due won the Women's Performance of the Meet and Rio Hondo's Aaron Augustine was the Co-Men's Diver of the Year in a trio of honors bestowed on SCC aquatics individuals.
Due set a new state meet record in the women's 400-yard individual medley (IM) as she swam a 4:30.49 time, breaking a 4-year-old mark by 1.24 seconds. Due earlier in the meet won the 500 freestyle and took two gold medals and a bronze (in the 1,650 freestyle) overall, swimming under retiring head coach Corey Stanbury (31 years in charge of El Camino aquatics).
Harary also won the 400 IM only one race after Due's record-setting performance as he blew away the field by 10 seconds faster than the next finisher. Harary won in 3:56.29 and he also collecte two state titles, winning the 200 IM in 1:49.63, while scoring a silver in the 200 backstroke.
Augustine had a tremendous meet as he won the 1-meter board state title with 287.50 points. His win broke up San Joaquin Delta's Josh Hamby attempt to sweep four dive titles in two years. Augustine scored more than 100 points on his last two dives, including high marks for his final dive--a Back 1-1/2 Somersaults, 1-1/2 Twists. The Rio Hondo athlete placed second behind Hamby in the 3-meter board event with 259.95 points. Rio Hondo diving coach Charly Collins was named the state's Co-Diving Coach of the Year.
Mt. SAC's Ethan Trieu won the men's 100 backstroke state title in 50.54 seconds. Pasadena City's Carmen Ung scored a silver in the women's 100 breaststroke with a PCC school record time of 1:03.20, only .15 behind winner Meghan Cluck of Orange Coast. El Camino diver Athena Katsouridis won the silver in the women's 1-meter diving board event with 183.60 points. El Camino's Aziz Jaouhar also placed second in the men's 200 IM.
The Mounties men grabbed a silver in the 800 freestyle relay and a bronze in the 400 medley relay. PCC's Michael Humphrey scored a bronze in the 400 IM while Mt. SAC's Jonathan Olvera also placed third in the 200 butterfly. The Mt. SAC men finished as the highest scoring SoCal team with 319 points for third place overall. El Camino was 13th on the men's side and 17th in the women's standings. Rio Hondo's 23rd place in the men's standings is believed to be the Roadrunners highest finish ever in state swimming and diving.
Mt. SAC's Jason Harary below:
