Pirates top elite field to win OCC Invitational

COSTA MESA -- With schools from throughout the state in attendance, the Orange Coast College men's swim team took care of business and won the 2026 OCC Invitational on Friday at the OCC Aquatics Pavilion.

The Pirates won early and often throughout the event and finished on top with a team score of 596 points, edging out Northern California's DeAnza College (575.5) and local rival, Golden West College (544.5). Santa Monica finished fourth with 484 points, followed by Clovis (319), Miramar (180), Palomar (156) and Grossmont (55).

OCC won seven individual and relay gold medals, with Pirate standout Kaua Mota earning three individual golds as well as a relay gold. Mota touched the wall first in the 100-yard butterfly (49.84), the 100 freestyle (47.03) and the 100 individual medley (52.67). In the 400 medley relay, Mota was the third swimmer in the winning relay that included Jackson Williams, Jun Caruso and Oscar Cruz, helping the Pirates to a first-place time of 3:39.78.

Caruso and Cruz each earned individual gold medals as well, with Caruso taking first in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:11.53 and Cruz capturing the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:55.93.

Distance specialist, Diego Lamboglia was the lone swimmer to break 18 minutes in the 1,650 freestyle, taking first overall with a time of 17:55.12, besting runner-up Michael Montoro of Palomar (18:03.89) by over eight seconds.

Other top-three performances by the Pirates included ... 

SECOND PLACE

500 Freestyle -- Jackson Williams, 5:01.62

200 Individual Medley -- Kaua Mota, 1:58.52

200 Freestyle -- Oscar Cruz, 1:46.57

100 Breaststroke -- Kaua Mota, 59.09

800 Freestyle Relay -- 7:21.21

400 Freestyle Relay -- 3:22.09

THIRD PLACE

500 Freestyle -- Jack McCann, 5:06.1

200 Individual Medley -- Jun Caruso, 2:00.58

200 Medley Relay -- 1:40.1

200 Freestyle -- Jackson Williams, 1:49.65

100 Backstroke -- Jackson Williams, 57.96

Now the competition gets ramped up for the Pirates as they prepare for the Orange Empire Conference Championships, which will take place at OCC, April 16-18, with preliminary races kicking off at 9:30 a.m.