Hancock Swimmers Earn Four More Top-5 Finishes, Bulldogs Finish Fifth Overall at WSC Championships

Allan Hancock College swimmers Haylee Hernandez, Meagan Stevens, Makena Blanco and Oceana Heath earned top-five finishes on the final day of the Western State Conference Championships at Bakersfield College to help the Allan Hancock College swimming and diving team finish fifth overall in the 10-team conference on Saturday.

Hernandez cut 95 seconds off her personal-best time in the 1650-yard freestyle final to finish in 19:22.09 to earn 15 points for the Bulldogs. With three top-four finishes in the meet, she earned a total of 48 points. Previously, she finished second in the 500 free final and third in the 200 free final.

Kaila Guilleman placed tenth in the 1650 free final with a time of 22:07, cutting 38 seconds off her previous best time. The Santa Ynez High School graduate earned seven points for the Bulldogs in the team standings. Earlier in the week, the freshman finished 15th in the 500 free final.

Stevens swam a personal-best time of 2:18.93 in the 200-yard backstroke final. Her fifth-place finish earned 14 points and gave her three top-eight showings and 39 points during the three-day meet. The Cabrillo High School graduate placed eighth in the 500 free final and fifth in the 400 individual medley final earlier in the week.

Mackenzie Coker swam the 200 backstroke final in 2:43.45 to finish 16th overall and earn one point. The Orcutt Academy graduate finished 12th in the 100 butterfly final earlier in the weekend.

Makena Blanco earned 14 points with a fifth-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly final. The Lompoc High School graduate set a PR with a time of 2:41.21. The sophomore also finished 12th in the 100 fly and 13th in the 200 individual medley events.

Oceana Heath finished fourth in the 200 fly final and set a PR with a time of 2:41.01 to earn 15 points. The Righetti High School graduate added that to a 16th-place finish in the 200 IM and ninth-place showing in the 400 IM events.

Hancock ended the meet with a season-best time of 3:58.12 in the 400 free relay to earn 24 points with a seventh-place finish.

Hancock finished fifth out of 10 teams in the overall standings with 314 points. Defending champion Santa Barbara won with 626 points, edging second-place Bakersfield by 91 points. Cuesta finished third with 445 points, followed by Ventura in fourth with 389 points. After Hancock in the standings came Citrus, Santa Monica, L.A. Valley, Canyons and L.A. Pierce.

The Bulldogs will wait to hear which individual and relay teams qualify for the 2018 CCCAA Swim and Dive State Championships. The state meet will take place May 3-5 at De Anza College.

Hancock freshman Kailey Roux already qualified for the state meet in the 1- and 3-meter diving events. She won the conference's 3-meter diving title and placed second in conference in the 1-meter event. Roux became the first Hancock diver to win a WSC title.