2014 California Community College Swim and Dive State Championships: Fan Guide

2014 CCCAA State Swimming and Diving Championships

• Dates: Thursday, May 1 – Friday, May 2, 2014 prelims 9:30am, finals 5:00 pm and Saturday, May 3, 2013 prelims 9:30 am, finals 4:00 pm
• Location: East Los Angeles College, Monterey Park CA (Pacific Time Zone)
• Defending Champions: Golden West College (men and women) (results)
• Psych Sheets: Available
• Results: Available on SwimPhone
• Live Video: Available
• Championship Central

The California Community College Athletic Association’s state meet is one of the last of the junior college championships in the country. Made up of seven conferences (Coast, Big 8, and Bay Valley in Northern California; and Orange Empire, South Coast, Pacific Coast, and Western State in Southern California), the CCCAA is home to some very fast swimmers.

In the 2013 State Championships, Golden West College won both the women’s and the men’s meets. The women swept all the relays, and had at least one top-eight finalist in every swimming event except the 50 breast, 50 back, and the mile. Even so, they were outscored in individual points by runner-up Diablo Valley College and wound up winning by just 30 points. The previous year, DVC ended up second, 5 points behind Orange Coast College. This was a huge improvement from the 125-point margin with which OCC beat DVC in 2011.

Santa Rosa College and Ventura College have been right there in the mix the last several years, with Riverside College and Sierra College not too far behind. One team that has been steadily creeping up the rankings is Pasadena City College: hovering between 20-30th in the state for the last several years, the Lancers broke into the top ten in 2013 and might even make top six this year.

Golden West won the men’s meet in 2013 after having finished eighth the two prior years. Palomar, Diablo Valley, and Cuesta ended up second through fourth in a tightly-contested battle. Although they only won two relays and two individual events, Golden West consistently scored top-eight in most events and was able to put a nice margin between themselves and the rest of the field.

The 2014 State Meet brings a couple of changes. Notably, this the first year that a full week separates the Conference championships (which all took place over the weekend of April 14-19) from the final State Meet; in the past they have always been on consecutive weekends. The new schedule may affect the meet in a couple of ways:

• those who tapered for Conference may find it harder than in the past to hold their taper through until State; and
• we may have yet to see the best times of those swimmers who could swim through Conference, saving their full taper for State.

The CCCAA Championship Meet includes two newcomers this year: Hancock College in Santa Maria and Santa Barbara City College. In addition, 2014 marks the last year that the women will swim the 50’s of the strokes and the 100 IM; in 2015, their events will match those of the men.

Stars

Golden West College: women – Lauren Vosseler (free, back), Melissa Bergesen (IM, breast), Brigitta Games (breast, fly), Lia Jorgensen (IM, back); men – Gabriel Hernandez (IM, fly), Dylan Alba (sprint free), Davit Sikharulidze (free), Daniel Roa (IM, fly), Loai Tashkandi (breast, IM).

Santa Rosa College: women – Miranda Howell (back, fly), Ashley Boyle (back, IM, free), Christine Lewis (breast, free); men – John Bing (breast, free), Andrew Hayes (IM, back, fly), Ben Crabb (back, IM), Stephen Mackanic (back, IM).

Diablo Valley College: women – Allison Gargalikis (breast, fly), Kelsey Leonard (free, fly), Emily Saccullo (distance), Laura Woods (sprint free); men – Evan Augst (distance), Dominic Baldwin (breast, IM), Dylan Powell (fly, IM).

Orange Coast College: women – Rae Adams (diving), Kellie Thorsness (sprint free), Candis Buck (diving), Chloe Kim (fly, IM); men – Sean Richards (back, free), Collin Latham (free, back), Kasey Foley (sprint free).

Mt San Antonio College: women – Rosemary Garcia (sprint free), Kiersten Shew (back, IM), Tana Wilson (IM, breast, fly), Kayleigh Davidson (distance); men – Edward Sanchez (IM, fly, free), Bennett Yuan (back, free), Aaron Clancy (breast, IM), Emmett Poon (IM, breast).

Sierra College: women – Annie Harriman (distance, IM), Hannah Jarvis (free, back), Marissa Tipton (diving), Lauren Cagle (IM, free); men – Eric Maginnis (fly), Brandon Cox (diving), Kyle Peterson (free).

Riverside College: women – Aimee Bruns (diving), Maryelizabeth Betz (free, IM), Tiffanie Perez (free, fly); men – Mauldin James (diving), James Reyes (distance), Seva Eagle (fly, sprint free), Nathan Diaz (distance).

Cuesta College: women – Racheal Gruetzmacher (free, fly), men – Georan Meedering (back, IM), Chris Reddick (sprint free), Austin Bauer (breast).

Bakersfield College: women – Shelby Bayne (sprint free), Clarissa Gardella (free, back); men – Andrew Hargis (free).

American River College: women – Tiera Kraft (diving), Jenner Johnson (IM, breast); men – Brenton Sayers (free), James Kent (diving).

Pasadena City College: women – Shannon Cheung (distance, IM), Ting Peng (back, fly), Arolyn Basham (IM, breast).

Ventura College: women – Abbey Brooks (back); men – Nick Vallejo (fly, free), Mitchell Ongstad (free, back), Christopher Sands (fly).

San Diego Mesa College: women – Alejandra Pantoja (fly, free), Ian Wong (breast, IM); men – Thomas Dillon (diving), Aaron Stinson (diving), Pedro Martir (breast).

State Record Watch

Women’s Meet

• 100 Free (50.36) – Lauren Vosseler (Golden West) has a 50.77 seed time.
• 200 Free (1:50.34) – Kelsey Leonard (Diablo Valley) is seeded with 1:49.78.
• 500 Free (4:53.01) – Kelsey Leonard (Diablo Valley)’s seed time is 4:57.00.
• 50 Breast (29.71) – Allison Gargalikis (Diablo Valley) comes in with 28.49; Brigitta Games (Golden West, 29.23) and Jenner Johnson (American River, 29.78) are also close to the old record.
• 100 Breast (1:02.98) – Allison Gargalikis (Diablo Valley) is seeded with 1:01.85, and Brigitta Games (Golden West) has 1:02.19; either might get this.
• 100 Fly (55.54) – Kelsey Leonard (Diablo Valley) is seeded with 55.82.
• 100 IM (57.91) – Melissa Bergesen (Golden West) has a 58.95 seed time.
• 400 Free Relay (3:28.89) – Golden West comes in with 3:27.51.
• 800 Free Relay (7:39.72) – Golden West has been 7:37.75.
• 200 Medley Relay (1:46.92) – Diablo Valley (1:45.70) and Santa Rosa (1:46.92) both have a chance.
• 400 Medley Relay (3:52.76) – Golden West (3:52.08) and Diablo Valley (3:52.53) could both break this one.
• 3m Diving (263.05) – Rae Adams (Orange Coast) is seeded with 263.05 points; Aimee Bruns (Riverside) has 262.50.

Men’s Meet

• 100 Breast (54.48) – Jia Ng (Santa Monica)’s seed time is 54.05.
• 200 Breast (1:59.35) – Jia Ng (Santa Monica) comes in with 1:59.22.
• 200 Fly (1:45.64) – Gabriel Hernandez (Golden West) is seeded with 1:47.77.
• 400 IM (3:54.84) – Gabriel Hernandez (Golden West) has been 3:55.62.
• 200 Free Relay (1:22.20) – Orange Coast (seeded with 1:22.26) and Golden West (1:22.82) will both be going for this record.
• 400 Free Relay (3:01.21) – Golden West (3:03.40) and Orange Coast (3:03.97)) both have a shot.
• 1m Diving (286.60) – James Mauldin (Riverside) is the top seed with 448.28 points. The next four all come in with dive scores in excess of the state record: Thomas Dillon (San Diego Mesa, 320.35); Aaron Stinson (San Diego Mesa, 298.10); Brandon Cox (Sierra, 297.50); and Jacob Swanson (Saddleback, 294.90).
• 3m Diving (340.60) – Jacob Swansen (Saddleback) comes in with 542.85.

Showdowns

Women’s 200 IM: Pasadena’s Shannon Cheung is top seed with 2:07.76, but Golden West’s Melissa Bergesen will be with her every stroke of the way. Cheung beat Bergesen by 1/100 to take second place in last year’s final.

Women’s 50 free: The Splash And Dash is always exciting, but this year the women field a tight group. Lauren Vosseler of Golden West is top seed with 23.62, but just behind her and separated by only .40 are Racheal Gruetzmacher (Cuesta), Hannah Jarvis (Sierra), Kellie Thorsness (Orange Coast), and Laura Woods (Diablo Valley).

Men’s 50 free: Even closer together are the top seeds in the men’s 50. Jia Ng (Santa Monica, 20.57), Dylan Alba (Golden West, 20.60), and John Bing (Santa Rosa, 20.62) are only separated by .05 in the seedings. Mitchell Ongstad (Ventura, 20.86) leads the next wave, with Chris Reddick (Cuesta, 20.98), Bennett Yuan (Mt SAC, 20.99), and Collin Latham (Orange Coast, 20.99) just .01 apart.

Men’s 100 free: Sprinters Reddick (Cuesta, 45.27) and Alba (Golden West, 45.58) are joined by Nick Vallejo (Ventura, 45.39), Davit Sikharulidze (Golden West, 45.44), Kasey Foley (Orange Coast, 45.67) and Andrew Hargis (Bakersfield, 45.68) in what will surely be an exciting race.

Men’s 100 and 200 back: In both races the top three are very closely matched. The shorter race is led by Georan Meedering (Cuesta) with a seed time of 50.84. Bennett Yuan (Mt SAC, 51.03) and Kawei Tan (San Mateo, 51.10) will be challenging Meedering for the title. In the 200, Kawei has the top seed time of 1:51.64, followed by Meedering (1:51.80) and Yuan (1:52.16).

Standings

Women

We expect it to be a very close race among Orange Coast, Santa Rosa, Diablo Valley, and Golden West for the top spot in the women’s race. One of these four schools has won the State Championship every year since 1999. Sierra is in the running this year, as well. Pasadena and its conference rival Mt. SAC are expected to be in a very tight race for sixth.

1. Orange Coast College
2. Santa Rosa College
3. Diablo Valley College
4. Golden West College
5. Sierra College
6. Pasadena City College
7. Mt San Antonio College
8. Riverside College
9. American River College
10. Bakersfield College
11. Cuesta College
12. San Diego Mesa College
13. El Camino College
14. Shasta College
15. LA Valley College
16. Santa Barbara City College
17. Grossmont College
18. Allan Hancock College
19. De Anza College
20. San Joaquin Delta College

Men

Golden West has the depth to run away with the men’s meet, but things get really interesting in the battle for second, with Mt SAC, Diablo Valley and Santa Rosa all vying for position. The next group jockeying for position is made up of Orange Coast, Ventura, and Riverside.

1. Golden West College
2. Mt San Antonio College
3. Diablo Valley College
4. Santa Rosa College
5. Orange Coast College
6. Ventura College
7. Riverside College
8. Cuesta College
9. Bakersfield College
10. American River College
11. Saddleback College
12. Sierra College
13. Santa Monica College
14. College of San Mateo
15. San Diego Mesa College
16. West Valley College
17. Grossmont College
18. Long Beach City College
19. El Camino College
20. De Anza College

Nearly 25,000 student athletes participate annually in intercollegiate athletics at California’s community colleges. The majority of student athletes participating at a community college transferred to a four-year college or university to continue their academic and athletic endeavors.