The undefeated season was the easy part for SRJC’s Men’s Swim and Dive team. The hard part was getting from Santa Rosa to the CCCAA State Championships in Los Angeles where the Bear Cubs proved they are number one in California.
Only days after winning the Big 8 Conference April 19-21, the teams were on the road to the biggest event of the season when their bus overheated on the Grapevine. Team captain Sean Malley said, “It was a little nerve racking because it was so hot on the Grapevine and being a swimmer, keeping up your energy is very important and I didn’t want myself or my teammates to be drained from the heat.”
Despite the one hour detour and watching other schools drive by, the Bear Cubs finally got into the water at East Las Angeles College Swim Stadium for the CCCAA Men and Women’s Swim and Dive State Championships. “It was important especially for the freshman to get in a solid warm up at the pool,” Malley said. They proved to other schools that things happen for a reason as they broke records and made history for SRJC twice in one event.
The men’s team has been in the State’s top four ranked teams since 2008. Taking third place at the CCCAA last year was good, but not good enough for the men. Not only did they crown themselves CCCAA State Champions, Big 8 Conference Champions, but they broke 10 records in 2012 on their way to the gold.
Double history was made at the State Championships. Not only was it the first time in SRJC’s history the Men’s Swim and Dive team won the state title, but head coach Jill McCormick was the first female to be named Men’s CA Community College Coach of the Year.
“It is exciting to be the first to do something like that,” McCormick said, “There are so many great coaches out there, that to be recognized among them is a tremendous honor.” McCormick has won women’s coach of the year five times, as well as the Big 8 Conference Coach of the Year five times in six years.
The women’s team placed seventh this year but have won the CCCAA State Championships four times since 2004. Holland was named 2012 State Female of the Year.
The SRJC Men’s Swimming and Diving teams have demonstrated exceptional skills and unmatched talent this season going undefeated and have set a high bar for other colleges to compete against. McCormick said, “The addition of dryland, strength training and more individualized programs has taken the swimmers to a new level of performance, especially on the men’s side.”
It’s no secret that the swim and dive teams have talent with a unique coaching, but combined the team made 2012 a record-setting season to remember.