2014 CCCAA Swim and Dive State Champs Final Wrap-Up: Diablo Valley Women, Golden West Men Crowned Champions

Looking back at the California Community College Athletics Association championship meet, which ended Saturday, it seems clear that you can’t call a national junior college champion until the west has finished its season. The California junior colleges aren’t part of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) so they do not participate in NJCAA nationals. In addition, it’s a spring sport in California so their championship meet takes place three months later.

The 2014 California state meet showcased three days of fast swimming. (See pre-meet analysis and recaps of Day One and Day Two here.) Held at East Los Angeles College, it gathered 36 women’s teams and 34 men’s from all over the state. In the end the meet record book was rewritten thirteen times; some of those will never again be broken as it was the final time the women’s sprint events (50 back, 50 breast, 50 fly, and 100 IM) would be contested.

Diablo Valley College won a tightly-contested women’s meet with strong performances all around, especially from co-swimmers of the meet Kelsey Leonard and Allison Gargalikis who won three events each. Gargalikis set three state records over the course of the meet. Top-seeded Golden West College won the men’s meet as expected, getting great swims out of all their team members including co-swimmers of the meet Davit Sikharulidze and Gabriel Hernandez.

1650 Free

Shannon Cheung, who had brought Pasadena City College its first-ever women’s state crown when she won the 200 IM, led wire-to-wire in the mile and ended up winning by nearly a 50. LA Valley’s Mor Flaisman took 27 seconds off her seed time to finish behind Cheung. Third place went to Mt SAC’s Kayleigh Davidson. The men’s race had a bit more drama: Evan Augst, the top seed out of Diablo Valley, swam more or less alone through most of the race until Riverside’s James Reyes started closing in on him toward the end. Reyes ran out of pool and finished second, with 16:17.75 to Augst’s 16:16.76. Reyes’s teammate Nathan Diaz was third.

Women’s 100 Back / Men’s 200 Back

Santa Rosa’s Miranda Howell picked up her second win of the meet with a 56.48 finish in the women’s 100 back. Connie Peng of Pasadena touched in 57.88 for second, .20 ahead of Mt SAC’s Kiersten Shew. Georan Meedering from Cuesta won an exciting men’s race in 1:49.73 thanks to an explosive final 50. Coming in second was Kawei Tan of San Mateo (1:50.81), while Andrew Hayes of Santa Rosa (1:51.52) picked up a third.

100 Free

Lauren Vosseler of Golden West, who had won the 50 free, added the 100 crown to her collection with a 51.06 finish. Kellie Thorsness of Orange Coast and Racheal Gruetzmacher of Cuesta were second and third, with 52.15 and 52.17, respectively.

Allison Gargalikis during the 100 breast. Photo: Anne Lepesant

The men’s race was a fast one, with Sikharulidze of Golden West getting his third win of the meet. He touched in 45.05 just in front of teammate Dylan Alba (45.46), West Valley’s Zach Selfridge (45.96), and Orange Coast’s Kasey Foley (45.98).

Women’s 100 Breast / Men’s 200 Breast

You knew the 100 breast would be fast when Brigitta Games of Golden West broke the meet record in prelims clocking a 1:02.47. In finals, though, it was Diablo Valley’s Gargalikis, with her third meet victory and third meet record, whose name went into the record book. Her 1:00.71 also broke the pool record, and would break the NJCAA national record, too, if the California schools were members. Games finished second in 1:01.75, also under the previous meet record; her teammate Melissa Bergesen took third.

Jia Ng of Santa Monica in the 200 breast. Photo: Anne Lepesant

Jia Ng of Santa Monica broke his second meet record with a 1:59.15 in the 200 breast. De Anza’s Darren Chan Chin Wah touched second, while Golden West’s Loai Tashkandi rounded out the podium.

Women’s 100 Fly / Men’s 200 Fly

Leonard of Diablo Valley’s third state title came in the 100 fly, where she tied the meet record with 55.54. Pasadena’s Peng hit the wall .09 ahead of Santa Barbara’s Rachelle Visser to claim second, 58.56 to 58.65.

Golden West’s Hernandez completed his hat trick with a victory in the 200 fly. He won by a significant margin, touching in 1:47.45. Second place went to Mt SAC’s Edward Sanchez (1:50.33); Christopher Sands of Ventura got third (1:52.29).

400 Free Relay

Coming up just shy of the meet record, Golden West (Games 52.05, Bergesen 53.23, Lia Jorgensen 53.18, Vosseler 49.61) won in 3:28.06. Finishing three seconds back was Diablo Valley, while another three behind them was Orange Coast. The men from Golden West were also victorious: Alba (45.98), Jeremy Grden (45.13), Tashkandi (46.06), and Sikharulidze (44.51) combined for 3:01.68. Orange Coast took second and Cuesta was third.

Records Broken

Event 2 Men 200 Yard Freestyle Relay: State – Orange Coast College (S Richards, C Latham, T Hone, K Foley) 1:21.75
Event 5 Women 100 Yard IM: Pool – Melissa Bergesen 58.90
Event 9 Women 400 Yard Medley Relay: State – Diablo Valley College (Tchekmarev, A Gargalikis, K Leonard, L Woods) 3:48.45
Event 12 Men 3 mtr Diving: State – Brandon Cox 369.55
Event 13 Women 200 Yard Medley Relay: State – Diablo Valley College (A Tchekmarev, A Gargalikis, K Leonard, L Woods) 1:45.09
Event 16 Men 400 Yard IM: State – Gabriel Hernandez 3:53.20
Event 17 Women 50 Yard Butterfly: State – Allison Gargalikis 24.67
Event 21 Women 50 Yard Breaststroke: State – Allison Gargalikis 28.19
Event 22 Men 100 Yard Breaststroke: State – Jia Ng 53.80
Event 23 Women 50 Yard Backstroke: Pool – Miranda Howell 26.21
Event 28 Men 1 mtr Diving: State – Brandon Cox 317.55
Event 35 Women 100 Yard Breaststroke: State and Pool – Allison Gargalikis 1:00.71; State (prelims) – Brigitta Games 1:02.47
Event 36 Men 200 Yard Breaststroke: State – Jia Ng 1:59.15
Event 37 Women 100 Yard Butterfly: State – Kelsey Leonard 55.54

Final Standings

Women’s Meet

Men’s Meet