LPC men finish fourth, Holunga captures gold twice at State Championships
By Matt Schwab
Las Positas freshman sensation Marcu Holunga, a Granada High graduate, won two State titles in the CCCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, in the 1650 and 500 freestyles.
The Las Positas men placed fourth in the team standings with 281.5 points, after also winning the Coast Conference meet championship. The fourth at state tied the LPC men's program record.
Overall, it was a fantastic State Meet for the Hawks, who basically maxed out in production from the stout group they brought to East Los Angeles College.
"We sure did," said a proud LPC head coach Jason Craighead of the efforts. "We set quite a few school records."
Holunga built up a big lead of 10 seconds in an exciting 1650 free and held on to prevail over Samuel Slezak of Mt. SAC by 1.5 seconds. Holunga's winning time was 15:53.52. Impressively, the Hawks had three guys in the top 10 of the long race as Ryan Ridosko (Granada) was sixth and Ross Brown (Amador Valley) was eighth. Holunga next won the 500 free on Saturday in a time of 4:35.09, and Ridosko was seventh in 4:39.61.
In the 500 free, Holunga fended off Tyler LeDet of Riverside with a big late push, including a fast final split of 27.15 to nail down the gold.
On the women's side, the Hawks, who placed second in the Coast Conference meet, were paced by sophomore Ashley Sand (Castro Valley). She had lifetime bests finishing third in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.78) and fourth in the 200 breaststroke.
Also in men's action, Zachary Zauhar-Kurr (Castro Valley) had a lifetime best placing ninth in the 200 IM (1:52.67) and placed a close third in the 100 breaststroke and fourth in the 200 breaststroke (2:04.13). Ridosko had personal bests in the 400 IM, 500 free and 1650 free.
The Hawks finished a stellar third in the men's 800 free relay with a spectacular time of 6:52.85, behind Sierra and OCC. The Hawks' team was Holunga, Zauhar-Kurr, Brown and Ridosko.
