Though Grossmont College’s swim season was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic, both the Griffins’ men’s and women’s teams showed quite a bit of promise.
The Pacific Coast Athletic Conference had scheduled three invitationals this spring, two of which were completed before the season was prematurely cancelled.
Crafton Hills, which is located in Yucaipa, hosted the first invitational on Feb. 28 while Southwestern College hosted the second event on March 6.
Palomar College was scheduled to host the third invitational on March 20.
The 2020 PCAC championship meet was scheduled April 16-18 at Southwestern College.
Grossmont College made a splash in its first trip to the pool this spring by competing in the Golden West Invitational on Feb. 21.
The Griffins finished fifth overall in the men’s standings braced by a core of talented returners and impact freshmen.
Emilio Camarillo (Eastlake), Austin Dickman (Granite Hills), Benjamin Berk (Grossmont), Garrett Duardo (Poway) and Thomas O’Carroll (Valhalla) all recorded points for Grossmont at the season opening event.
Camarillo, a freshman, scored a second-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:11.71 and later finished third in the 50-yard butterfly in 26.15 to rack up 21 team points.
Dickman, a sophomore, started the day by finishing fourth in the 100 butterfly (56.92) before finishing third in the 100 backstroke (59.67) to record another successful outing.
Berk, a freshman, produced two top-five finishes in his community college debut by finishing fourth in the 200 freestyle (1:54.90) and fifth in the 100 freestyle (51.42).
Duardo, a sophomore, placed sixth in the 50 freestyle (23.44) and eighth in the 100 freestyle (52.85).
O’Carroll, a freshman, finished 10th in the 200 individual medley (2:19.55).
The Griffins led the trio of PCAC teams competing in the event as Southwestern finished eighth and Palomar finished ninth in the team standings.
Grossmont finished as last spring’s PCAC men’s champions while the women’s team finished in third place.
Dickman earned the 2019 PCAC men’s Co-Athlete of the Meet award after winning five gold medals and scoring 60 points for the Griffins.
Grossmont men’s coach Anhton Tran said this year’s team had much potential, “looking strong with a bunch of good freshmen.”
At the Crafton Hills meet, Dickman turned in the standout performance by winning the 100 backstroke in 59.37 and the 200 backstroke in 2:11.18 while placing second in the 100 butterfly in 56.15.
Camarillo finished second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:05.20 and fifth in both the 50 freestyle (23.69) and 100 butterfly (58.13).
Berk finished second in the 200 freestyle in 1:54.17 and placed third in both the 50 freestyle (23.25) and 100 freestyle (50.28).
O’Carroll finished second in the 200 IM in 2:13.55, third in the 100 butterfly in 57.12 and fourth in the 200 freestyle in 1:59.95.
Duardo placed third in both the 200 freestyle (1:57.04) and the 500 freestyle (5:35.63).
Freshman Cason Power (Granite Hills) finished third in the 200 backstroke (2:20.21) while freshman Nathan Serrano (Valhalla) placed fourth in the same event in 2:29.47.
Freshman Keith Patrick (West Hills) placed fifth in the 100 freestyle (54.16)
Grossmont won the men’s 200 medley relay (1:48.24) while finishing second in the 200 freestyle relay (1:32.76).
On the women’s side, freshman Madison Logsdon (Valhalla) won the 200 freestyle in 2:07.33 and the 500 freestyle in 5:45.65 while also placing second in the 50 freestyle (27.63).
Sophomore Maria Jimenez (Otay Ranch) emerged victorious in the 200 butterfly in 2:35.71 and placed third in the 100 butterfly (1:09.13).
Sophomore Marissa Cadava (Steele Canyon) finished second in the 200 breaststroke in 3:05.75 and placed fourth in the 100 breaststroke (1:24.69).
Freshman Adriana Meza (Otay Ranch) placed third in the 200 backstroke (2:47.93), fourth in the 200 IM (2:51.97) and fifth in the 100 backstroke (1:17.32).
Freshman Alyssa Gutierrez (Ramona) placed third in the 500 freestyle (6:38.53) while freshman Amber Payne-Schmidt (Monte Vista) placed third in the 200 IM (2:49.68).
Sophomore Moana Hasenstab (Point Loma) was fourth in the 200 freestyle (2:16.70) and fifth in the 100 freestyle (1:00.94).
Kathryn Wells (Granite Hills) was fourth in the 100 backstroke (1:16.83) while freshman Zoe Fox (Monte Vista) placed fourth in the 200 breaststroke (3:12.99).
The season was abruptly halted after another strong performance by Grossmont at the second PCAC invitational.
In individual men’s events, Dickman, Camarillo, O’Carroll and Duardo all recorded first-place touches.
Dickman won the 200 backstroke in 2:08.98 and placed second in the 100 butterfly (55.10).
Camarillo won the 200 individual medley in 2:07.80 and placed second in the 200 butterfly (2:15.31).
O’Carroll won the 200 butterfly event in 2:07.73 and placed third in the 200 IM (2:12.49).
Duardo won the 500 freestyle in 5:15.97 while placing fourth in both the 100 freestyle (51.88) and 200 freestyle (1:56.58).
Freshman Andrew Valdez (Helix) finished second in the 100 backstroke (1:04.90) and fifth in the 200 backstroke (2:26.71)
Berk finished third in the 100 freestyle (51.18) and third in the 200 freestyle (1:54.19)
Freshman Emiliano Castro (Bonita Vista) finished fourth in the 50 freestyle sprint in 23.55 and fifth in the 100 freestyle (52.72).
Power finished third in the 200 backstroke (2:21.24), followed by Serrano in fourth place in 2:24.29.
Grossmont won the men’s 200 freestyle relay in 1:32.72 and finished second in the men’s 200 medley relay (1:48.07).
The Grossmont women’s team also produced some showcase swims in what turned out to be the final PCAC event of the season.
Logsdon finished first in the 200 freestyle in 2:05.77, second in the 500 freestyle (5:42.94) and fourth in the 50 freestyle (27.41).
Returner Jasmine Miller (Valhalla) finished first in the 50 freestyle in 25.77 and second in both the 100 freestyle (57.35) and 200 freestyle (2:06.63).
Miller won the 50 freestyle and finished second in the 100 freestyle at the 2018 PCAC championship meet while competing as a freshman for the Lady Griffins.
Freshman Alissa Brindley (Ramona) finished first in the 100 backstroke in 41.80 while Meza finished second in the 200 backstroke in 2:45.00.
Freshman Leslie Garcia (Steele Canyon) finished third in the 200 IM (2:42.01) while Payne-Schmidt was fourth in the same event in 2:47.40.
Hasenstab finished fourth in both the 100 freestyle (59.86) and 200 freestyle (2:13.59) and was fifth in the 50 freestyle (27.48).
Cadava placed fourth in the 200 breaststroke in 3:05.29 and fifth in the 100 breaststroke (1:24.59).
Jimenez placed fifth in the 100 butterfly (1:08.24).
Grossmont won the meet-concluding women’s 200 freestyle relay in 1:48.21.
The state championship meet was scheduled to take place over a three-day interval April 30 to May 2 at East Los Angeles College.
