Bakersfield, CA (Swimming) -- The Citrus College swim and dive team, opened up their 2008 WSC slate with strong showings at their dual meet with Bakersfield College and LA Valley College. In the meet, hosted by Bakersfield College, Citrus finished first in 11 of 22 events.
The Fighting Owls, who were impressive on both the men's and women's side, were especially dominant when it came to the men. Citrus beat out-scored Bakersfield College 67-45 and cruised against LA Valley 61-52.
Four of Citrus' strongest performances of the day came from the Smiley Brothers and Ken Kalinisan. Peter Smiley finished first in the 200 Yard Freestyle (1:55.81) and absolutely dominated the 500 Yard Freestyle (5:18.03) where his time was a full 11 seconds faster than his nearest competitor, while his brother Brian won the 50 Yard Freestyle with a time of 22.45.
For Kalinisan, he excelled in the 200 Yard IM, where he took 1st place with a time of 2:03.24 and the 100 Yard Breaststroke where his time of 1:00.28 was the best of the day. To cap things off, Kalinisan and Smiley helped anchor the first place 200 Yard Medley Relay team that beat out Bakersfield's squad with a time of 1:42.57.
On the women's side, Jennifer Marshall, Marie Alvarado and Christina Okun all turned in first place finishes. Marshall and Alvarado both took one event apiece, the 100 Yard IM for Marshall (1:12.52) and the 200 Yard Freestyle for Alvarado (2:20.95).
As for Okun, she excelled in two different events leaving her competition in her wake in the 50 Yard Freestyle with a time of 26.39, almost a full four seconds faster than the second place finisher, and another first place finisher in the 100 Yard Freestyle with a time of 59.41.
While the women performed admirably they fell short with their score against Bakersfield losing 49-62, but still managed to out-point LA Valley 64-47. The Owls will hit the road again this weekend as it travels to San Luis Obispo, CA to participate in the Cuesta Invitational. Events will take place over two days beginning, Friday March 14th.