The Pacific Coast Athletic Conference held its first swim and dive championship meet since 2019 last weekend at Southwestern College. It was a triumphant return to the pool for many swimmers who had their 2020 season cut short by the Coronavirus shutdown.
In all, two full seasons were lost to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was exciting to get back into the pool, back into swimming,” Grossmont College men’s head coach Anhton Tran said. “But it’s been rough coming back from a long time off.
“We set goals for this year and the swimmers are right on those. We’ve had big drops throughout the season.”
Five teams participated in last weekend’s PCAC championship meet: Southwestern College, Grossmont College, San Diego Mesa College, Palomar College and Crafton Hills College.
Grossmont College captured the men’s team title with 757 points while San Diego Mesa won the women’s title with 759 points.
Palomar College finished runner-up in the men’s field with 675 points while Grossmont placed second in the women’s field with 548 points.
Despite lower numbers, it was a competitive meet thanks to the rules that govern community college swimming. At the community college level, swimmers can compete in as many as seven events over the course of a championship meet — three individual events and four relays.
Teams were thus able to stretch their talent across the board to pile up points.
Palomar College’s Jacob Rochman (Mission Hills) captured the PCAC Men’s Swimmer of the Year award after winning individual titles in the 400-yard individual medley (4:11.52), 200 backstroke (1:54.85) and 200 butterfly (1:55.80).
San Diego Mesa’s Sydney Fortune (Patrick Henry) earned honors as the PCAC Women’s Swimmer of the Year after winning individual titles in the 500 freestyle (5:30.15), 100 breaststroke (1:07.10) and 200 breaststroke (2:26.81). The latter time was a meet record.
Grossmont’s Tran received the PCAC Men’s Coach of the Year award while Mesa’s Paul Mazzarelle received the PCAC Women’s Coach of the Year award.
Southwestern College finished third in the men’s field with 417 points while San Diego Mesa was fourth with 311 points and Crafton Hills was fifth with 190 points.
Rounding out the women’s field were Palomar College in third place with 445 points, Southwestern College in fourth place with 224 points and Crafton Hills in fifth place with 32 points.
Eastern exposure
While Palomar College recorded first-place finishes in 11 of the 20 men’s events to Grossmont’s six event championships, the
Griffins prevailed by numbers.
“A lot of depth was the difference,” Tran said. “We had multiple swimmers in the championship finals.”
Grossmont captured all three freestyle relays with the lineup of Emilio Camarillo (Eastlake), Emiliano Castro (Bonita Vista), Garrett Durado (Poway) and Ben Berk (Grossmont). The quartet won the meet opening 200 freestyle relay in 1:26.42, posted the fastest time in the 800 freestyle relay (4×200) in 7:16.24 and won the meet-concluding 400 freestyle relay in 3:09.71.
Individual event champions for the Griffins included Camarillo in the 200 individual medley (1:59.10), Carlos Lazarr (West Hills) in the 100 backstroke and Jacob Nelson (Ramona) in the three-meter diving competition (203 points).
Palomar won two relay events and had nine individual champions. The foursome of Rochman, Kevin Burnia, Timothy Godin and Jeremy Lovegren timed 3:32.79 to win the 400 medley relay and 1:36.96 to win the 200 medley relay.
Besides Rochman’s three individual first-place medals, the Comets also received gold medals from Godin (4:40.61 in the 500 freestyle and 1:43:02 in the 200 freestyle), Brunia (100 butterfly in 51.00 and 100 breaststroke in 57.28), Calvin Anderson (200 breaststroke in 2:27.35) and Donovan Taylor (one-meter diving with 210.20 points).
Palomar recorded a runner-up finish in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:11.96 — 2.25 seconds behind Grossmont.
“It was great finish,” Tran said. “We won all the freestyle relays
and they won all the medley relays. They were catching up to us in points, so we knew it could come down to the final race.”
The top five place-finishers in each race received medals.
Durado finished second in the 500 freestyle (4:50.35), Ryan Beery (Classical Academy) placed second in the 200 IM (2:02.17), Berk finished second in the 50 freestyle (21.49) and 200 butterfly (1:59.48), Camarillo finished second in the 100 butterfly (51.84) and Lazarr finished second in the 200 backstroke (2:10.67).
Berk also finished third in the 200 freestyle (1:45.45) and 100 freestyle (46.82). Anthony Treltas (Valhalla) placed third in the 200 breaststroke (2:29.63) while Joey Asaro (Grossmont) finished third in the 1,650 freestyle (19:44.10). Nelson finished third in the one meter dive competition (172.35 points).
The 1,650 freestyle race, consisting of 66 laps, is the marathon event in the conference finals.
The Lady Griffins managed to squeeze in two event victories in a meet otherwise dominated by the Lady Olympians with 14 first place finishes, including diving.
Grossmont won the 800 freestyle relay in 8:46.76 behind Maegan Calcutt (West Hills), Madison Dickman (Granite Hills), Annika Prado (Valhalla) and Moana Hasenstab (Point Loma). Dickman came back to post the top time in the 200 backstroke in 2:23.95.
Dickman finished with a chest full of medals. She also placed third in the 400 freestyle relay (4:01.66), fourth in the 100 backstroke (1:09.58) and fifth in the 500 freestyle (5:55.97).
The times in the 500 freestyle, 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke were college bests.
A 2021 graduate of Granite Hills, Dickman placed runner-up at the Grossmont Hills League finals in the 500 freestyle and 100 backstroke and was part of two league championships.
“Swimming at the community college level is very difficult,” she said. “Everyone puts up a great race. I was very fortunate I was able to win two of them. My goals entering my freshmen year were to make the state meet in the 200 backstroke and win the PCAC in the 200 backstroke and get as far as I could in all my faces for these championships.”
The Lady Griffins tallied four second-place event finishes:
Hasenstab in the 50 freestyle (27.03), Prado in the 400 IM (5:38.77) and Calcutt in the 200 freestyle (2:06.65) and 200 butterfly (2:33.45).
Third-place finishers included Ashley Leland in the 100 butterfly (1:15.19), Hasenstab in the 200 freestyle (2:13.83), Brianna Gilliam in the 100 backstroke (1:09.36) and Prado in the 200 butterfly (2:52.36).
Steele Canyon’s Ty Hunt, representing San Diego Mesa, finished second in the men’s one-meter finals with 203.30 points while El Capitan’s Filip Dominique (134.50 points, also for San Diego Mesa) finished fourth in the field ahead of Treltas (fifth with 129.90 points for Grossmont).
Hunt placed third in the three meter competition with 168.25 points while Dominique was fourth with 133.50 points.
All divers from the PCAC men’s finals qualified for the upcoming state meet. Dominique, who placed fifth at last year’s San Diego Section Division II finals, said he is excited to compete.
“People underestimate the competition at the JC level,” Dominique said.
Pacific Coast Athletic Conference Swim Championships
April 21-23 at Southwestern College
MEN’S EVENT WINNERS
200 freestyle relay: Grossmont (Emilio Camarillo, Garrett Durado,
Ben Berk, Emiliano Castro) 1:26.42 500 freestyle: Timothy Godin
(Palomar) 4:40.61
200 individual medley: Emilio Camarillo (Grossmont) 1:59.10 50 freestyle: Bryce Heber (Southwestern) 21.09
400 medley relay: Palomar (Jacob Rochman, Kevin Brunia, Timothy Godin, Jeremy Lovegren) 3:32.79
200 medley relay: Palomar (Jacob Rochman, Kevin Brunia, Timothy Godin, Jeremy Lovegren) 1:36.96
400 individual medley: Jacob Rochman (Palomar) 4:11.52 100 butterfly: Kevin Brunia (Palomar) 51.00
200 freestyle: Timothy Godin (Palomar) 1:43.02 100 breaststroke: Kevin Brunia (Palomar) 57.28
100 backstroke: Carlos Lazarr (Grossmont) 57.83
800 freestyle relay: Grossmont (Emilio Camarillo, Emiliano Castro, Garrett Durado, Ben Berk) 7:16.24
1650 freestyle: Gerald Griffin (Crafton Hills) 18:12.86
200 backstroke: Jacob Rochman (Palomar) 1:54.85
100 freestyle: Bryce Heber (Southwestern) 46.42
200 breaststroke: Calvin Anderson (Palomar) 2:27.35
200 butterfly: Jacob Rochman (Palomar) 1:55.80
400 freestyle relay: Grossmont (Emilio Camarillo, Emiliano Castro), Garrett Durado, Ben Berk) 3:09.71
Team scores: 1. Grossmont 757; 2. Palomar 675; 3. Southwestern 417, 4. San Diego Mesa 311; 5. Crafton Hills 190
WOMEN’S EVENT WINNERS
200 freestyle relay: San Diego Mesa (Sydney Fortune, Riley Accurso, Nyoka Martinezcuello, Kiley Knight) 1:45.89
500 freestyle: Sydney Fortune (SD Mesa) 5:30.15
200 individual medley: Elena Pena (Palomar) 2:16.28
50 freestyle: Kiley Knight (SD Mesa) 26.20
400 medley relay: San Diego Mesa (Torrey Brindell, Sydney Fortune, Kiley Knight, Riley Accurso) 4:14.52
200 medley relay: San Diego Mesa (Riley Accurso, Sydney Fortune, Kiley Knight, Torrey Brindell) 1:56.38
100 butterfly: Kiley Knight (SD Mesa) 1:03.47
200 freestyle: Sydni Dickson (Palomar) 2:04.79
100 breaststroke: Sydney Fortune (SD Mesa) 1:07.10
100 backstroke: Sydni Dickson (Palomar) 1:05.53
800 freestyle relay: Grossmont (Maegan Calcutt, Madison Dickman, Annika Prado, Moana Hasenstab) 8:46.76
1650 freestyle: Torrey Brindell (SD Mesa) 20:29.12 200 backstroke: Madison Dickman (Grossmont) 2:23.95
100 freestyle: Elena Pena (Palomar) 55.25
200 breaststroke: Sydney Fortune (SD Mesa) 2:26.81 (meet record)
200 butterfly: Laura Estrada (SD Mesa) 2:25.24
400 freestyle relay: San Diego Mesa (Torrey Brindell, Sydney Fortune, Kiley Knight, Riley Accurso) 3:46.56
Team scores: 1. San Diego Mesa 759; 2. Grossmont 548; 3. Palomar 445; 4. Southwestern 224; 5. Crafton Hills 32
PCAC DIVE CHAMPIONSHIP
MEN’S 1-METER FINALS
1. Donovan Taylor (Palomar) 210.30; 2. Ty Steven Hunt (SD Mesa) 203.30; 3. Jacob Nelson (Grossmont) 172.35; 4. Filip Dominique (SD Mesa) 134.50; 5. Anthony Treltas (Grossmont) 129.90
MEN’S 3-METER FINALS
1. Jacob Nelson (Grossmont) 203.00; 2. Donovan Taylor (Palomar) 168.55; 3. Ty Steven Hunt (SD Mesa) 168.25; 4. Filip Dominique (SD Mesa) 133.50
Men’s Diver of the Year
Donovan Taylor (Palomar)
WOMEN’S 1-METER FINALS
1. Seraphim Nagel (SD Mesa) 140.10; 2. Hannah Spencer (SD
Mesa) 100.85; 3. Emily Gornall (Palomar) 89.45 ;4. Lily Barraza (SD Mesa) 60.75; 5. Sydney Esquivel (Grossmont) 45.00
WOMEN’S 3-METER FINALS
1. Seraphim Nagel (SD Mesa) 154.30 ;2. Emily Gornall (Palomar) 144.85; 3. Hannah Spencer (SD Mesa) 127.10
Women’s Diver of the Year
Seraphim Nagel (SD Mesa)
