The Big 8 Conference Championships and the State Championships are right around the corner and SRJC swim and dive teams are title contenders.

To open the season, the men set the tone with a triple win in the Quad Meet versus Shasta (89-23), Merced (99-66) and College of the Sequoias (98-17).

The following day, the men took first place in the annual NorCal Relays, where the first record breaker of 2012 was Nicolas Suissa in the 1 meter board with six dives for 277.40 points, the previous record was set by SRJC alum Grant Slovick (262.50pts in 2010). SRJC hosted the NorCal Relays winning 11 of 12 events.

The women’s team took home the triple win as well in the Quad Meet opener defeating Shasta (84-21), Merced (70-32), COS (74-19). The Lady Bear Cubs took home second place in the NorCal relays.
The next duo was on the road in Stockton where the Bear Cubs faced Delta and Sierra. The men won both meets outscoring Delta 89-11 and Sierra 79-11. The women won 71-34 over Delta but barely lost 51-59 in a close match against Sierra.

The Las Positas Invitational was a confidence booster for the swim and dive teams because many athletes proved to themselves how powerful they were in the water, some swimming their best times. Alexandria Holland gave a “shout-out to Meghan O’Rourke for kicking it into gear on the last few laps of her 500 free to out-touch a girl for second place!” Triple winner highlights included Alexandria Holland in the 100 Fly (59.67), 100 Free (54.77), and the 100 Individual Medley (1:00.58); and Alex Xu in the 200 Breast (2:13.79), 100 Fly (53.62), 100 Free (48.52).

First place is an understatement for the Bear Cubs’ success at the Cuesta Invitational with 1306.5 points leaving a 217 point lead between them and second place Ventura (1089). Nine players accumulated 40 plus points in their individual events. Trent Williams racked up the most points with 57 in his two first place and one second place wins in his three events. Alex Xu and Justin Lomas both tallied 49 points towards the teams’ total. The men demonstrated their talent in their 668 individual points with 148 relay points and the women’s team earned 328.5 individual points with 162 relay points totaling 490.5. For the women, Alexandria Holland lead the team with 57 points in her two first place and one second place win in three events.

The Cuesta Invitational “was one of the highlights of the season,” said head coach Jill McCormick. “Our team goal coming into the meet was to have 90 percent season bests and we were a perfect 100 percent in the first session.”

The Bear Cubs competed at home against Sierra on March 16, in their first home meet since the NorCal Relays in February. The men’s squad kept their winning streak alive by shattering Sierra 90-21.

The women had their second loss of the season, again in a close match versus Sierra 52-55.

Following the Sierra Meets, both teams were victorious in the annual alumni contest later that day.

The men’s highest point deficit of the season was back on the road in Sacramento on March 23 where the men defeated American River in a conference meet 107-14. The women also took home the win in a close 53-51 victory.

At the CSM Invitational the men took home another first place title and the women took home a second place title.

Another highlight for McCormick was at the American River Sprint Pentathlon with the 50 meter freestyle shoot out, which took the top eight swimmers and set them head to head. SRJC had six of the eight men in the shoot-out, where Trent Williams knocked out a few of his teammates to get the win. SRJC won both the men’s and women’s shoot out, a fun yet proud side event for the teams. Williams swam a 21.11 in the 50m free style shoot out, a better time than last year’s time of 21.18, “which won the State Championship,” McCormick said.
The Bear Cubs are ready and waiting for the two biggest meets of the year which, are during back-to-back weeks at the end of April. McCormick said the teams’ goals are to win the Big 8 Conference and State Championships. Many swimmers both male and female have swam qualifying times for State, and don’t need to qualify for State Championships at the Big 8 Conference.

Nicolas “Niko” Suissa is unbeaten. “He has broken both the school records this year as well as won both boards (1 meter and 3 meter) at the Cuesta Invite,” McCormick said.

McCormick said the men’s team is comfortable in any meet format, bringing depth and top speed to events, which has contributed to their undefeated and first place meets. The Bear Cubs would like to give a big shout-out to strength training and dry-land coach, Cassandra Lund, who has greatly helped prepare the swim and dive teams physically and mentally.

April 7 was the last regular season meet. The Bear Cubs have the NorCal Dive Championship on April 14, the Big 8 Conference April 19-21 and their chance to bring home the State Championship title April 26-28.
Both the men and women’s teams have impressed themselves, their coaches and students with their performances so far this season and definitely have the talent to win through the rest of the month.