The Long Beach City College swimming & diving program competed in the South Coast Conference (SCC) Championships this past week starting on Thursday, April 20th and finishing up on Saturday, April 22nd on the campus of Mt. San Antonio College. The Vikings performed well with two swimmers breaking LBCC records with the men placing second overall (590 points) and the women placing fifth (333 points.)
On the men's side, the Vikings started out with a gold medal finish in 200 Free Relay compiled of sophomore Mark Denison, sophomore Aaron Mowl, freshman Shaun Spaulding, and freshman Ryan Sar. They touched the wall first with a mark of 1:27.16.
Denison continued to compete well as the championships progressed as he reigned supreme in the 100 Free with a mark of 45.68. His time broke the previous LBCC record held by Brendan Beer '02 with a time of 45.90.
He continued on to earn two second-place finishes that came in the 50 Free with a time of 21.38 and the 200 Free with a time of 1:42.88.
Sophomore Aaron Mowl performed exceptional by coming in second place in the 100 Back with a time of 51.98. He was also a part of two other relays that placed in the top three. Mowl kicked off a 200 Medley Relay that included Denison, freshman Ryan Sar and freshman Andrew Ingram that placed second with a time of 1:37.88. He also anchored the 800 Medley that placed third with a time of 7:11.68. He was joined by Denison, freshman Timothy Nilan, and freshman Myles Martinez.
Nilan finished sixth in the 500 Free with a time of 5:00.79, backed by a seventh-place finish from Martinez after touching the wall at a time of 5:02.04.
For the women, freshman Samantha Wooley was one of the best amongst the field. Her performances were highlighted by a 100 Back time of 59.37 which broke the previous LBCC record held by Amanda Heintzelman '02 at a time of 1:01.09.
She continued on to place second in the 50 Free with a time of 24.82.
Wooley was part of two third-place relays as well. She swam the first leg of the 200 Medley Relay and was joined by freshman Cori Reynolds, freshman Lindsey Mizrahi, and freshman Victoria Johnson. They earned a time of 1:57.93. She then kicked of the 400 Free Relay and was joined by Reynolds, freshman Charli Chavarria, and Mizrahi to earn a time of 3:54.67.
Reynolds hauled in a bronze medal in the 100 Breaststroke with a time of 1:13.89, while Mizrahi earned a third-place finish in the 200 IM after touching the tile at a time of 2:24.46.
The Vikings still await to see if they have earned any state qualifiers. Stay tuned to www.lbccvikings.com for further information.