Men's Swimming breaks top 10 with 7th place finish at State Championships

Photo:  Allen Kezer
Photo: Allen Kezer

For the 11th time in the past 12 seasons, SRJC Men's Swimming ranks in the top 10 teams in the state after finishing 7th overall at the 2016 CCCAA State Championship Meet. "It was the successful combination of sophomore leadership and freshmen talent that allowed our guys to be competitive in the fastest state meet in California Community College history," commented head coach, Jill McCormick.

Sophomore co-captains Jesse Schmidt and Brandon Miguel both contributed significant points to the team with their individual and relay performances.  But what was even more impressive was that both men successfully swam a pair of nasty "doubles" (2 individual events in one day).  After finishing 5th in the 200 IM on day 1 of the meet, Schmidt doubled-down and swam both the 400 IM and the 100 Breast on day 2, placing 10th and 3rd overall respectively.  Schmidt was also a member of four of SRJC's top 8 relay teams, making him the Bear Cubs high point swimmer of the meet.  Miguel's day 3 double included two of the most brutal races in competitive swimming, the 200 Fly and the 1650 Free--he finished 14th in both.

Standout performances also came from several Bear Cub freshman. Distance freestyler Drew Sipple had a break through meet posting life-time bests in both the 500 Free and the 1650 Free.  After finishing 5th in the 500, Sipple was in one of the most impressive races of the meet in the mile against Slava Illin (Sierra) and Liam Paterson (Golden West).  The race literally came down to the last stroke and although Sipple finished a close second behind Illin, he is only the second SRJC swimmer in history to break the 16 minute mark in the mile posting a time of 15:56.52.  Two other freshmen swimmers finaled for the Cubs including: Bradley John Erickson who took 4th in both the 100 and 200 Breast events, and R.J. Williams who took 7th in the 100 Fly and 11th in the 100 Free.

Other individuals who finaled at the meet include 400 IMer's Quinlan Kezer 13th and Nathan Boas 14th.  Relay only swimmers Will Hardman, Franklin Manolio, and Collin Campbell helped get all five of SRJC's relays into the top 8 as well:  200 Free (5th), 400 Medley (7th), 200 Medley (6th), 800 Free (8th), and 400 Free (7th).  Congratulations to the Bear Cubs on another successful season.

2016 CCCAA State Swimming and Diving Championships Complete Results

Final Team Scores (top 10 only): 1. Sierra 543 2. Golden West 508 3. Orange Coast 382 4. Riverside 378 5. San Diego Mesa 291 6. Diablo Valley 280 7. Santa Rosa 252.5 8. Las Positas 243 9. Ventura 106 10. Foothill 102

SRJC Top Event Finishers: 200 Free Relay-5th, Wiliams, Schmidt, Hardman, Manolio, 1:24.82; 500 Free-5th, Drew Sipple, 4:39.13; 200 IM-5th, Jesse Schmidt, 1:54.51; 50 Free-11th, RJ Williams, 20.92; 400 Medley Relay-7th, Sipple, Schmidt, Williams, Hardman, 3:32.43; 200 Medley Relay-6th, Sipple, Schmidt, Williams, Hardman, 1:34.50; 400 IM-10th, Jesse Schmidt, 4:12.83; 100 Fly-7th, RJ Williams, 50.34; 100 Breast-3rd, Jesse Schmidt, 57.24; 800 Free Rela-8th, Sipple, Miguel, Campbell, Manolio, 7:12.47; 1650 Free-2nd, Drew Sipple 15:56.52; 200 Breast-4th, Bradley John Erickson, 2:03.88; 200 Fly-Brandon Miguel, 14th, 2:01.62; 400 Free Relay-7th, Williams, Schmidt, Hardman, Erickson, 3:08.11