Humann gets 2nd WSC title; Vaqueros take 800 free relay on Day 2

Alex Humann captured her second WSC title on Friday night and SBCC won its first relay, taking the 800 free relay by nearly 9 seconds on Day 2 of the WSC Swim & Dive Championships at Paul Nelson Pool in Santa Maria.

Humann and Halie Johnson went 1-2 in the 200 free with Humann clocking 1:58.58 and Johnson 2:00.69. Humann shaved 2.69 seconds off her No. 1 seed time and swam the third-fastest 200 free in school history, just .77 off her No. 2 time.

The Vaqueros took second in the first event of the day, the 200 medley relay.

Santa Barbara, the two-time defending conference champion, started the day with some bad news when they found out they weren't getting the 24 points for their B relay finishing 7th in Thursday night's final event, the 400 medley relay. The "A team," which came in as the No. 1 seed, was disqualified for a false start and only the "A team" can score points.

Every Vaquero scored on Friday and they rebuilt their lead to 99 points. SBCC is first with 461 in the 3-day, 10-team meet. Ventura is second at 362, followed by Cuesta (323) and Hancock (315).

"It was a great day for us as every single team member scored, which is a huge accomplishment," noted coach Chuckie Roth. "The 200 free was awesome and the 100 back was amazing.

"We finally won a relay. The girls are digging deep. Every swim, we are making huge time drops and moving up in scoring. We have a good lead and have recovered from the DQ last night and the loss of the B team points."

Addison Seale was third in the 100 breast in 1:08.86, Serafina Chavez took fourth in the 400 IM in 5:06.34 and Sierra Varlesi was seventh in the 100 fly in 1:08.47. The Vaqueros dominated the 100 backstroke with a 2-4-7-9-16 finish that produced 54 points.

Reese Ellestad was second in the 100 back in 1:02.32, Mackenzie Richards was fourth (1:05.31), Anna Manfreda took seventh (1:07.22) and Charissa Dorn was ninth (1:08.70).

SBCC captured the last event on Friday night, the 800 free relay, in 8:14.90 to earn 40 points. That team consisted of Chavez, Johnson, Richards and Humann and they beat the runner-up Ventura by 8.7 seconds.

"This is a special group and tomorrow, we will enjoy our team and compete," stated Roth.

Prelims will start Day 3 of the WSC Championships at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday with the finals starting at 4 p.m.