GOLDEN WEST SWIMMERS RACE WELL AT THE STATE MEET

May 3, 2025

SANTA ROSA, Calif. - Santa Rosa Junior College was the host of the 2025 CCCAA Swim and Dive Championships this past weekend. The Quinn Swim Center saw fast swimming all three days as there were twelve new State records set. The men's team competition was tight as Sierra College edged American River 443-434 for the team title. Mt. Sac was third at 417. The Rustlers finished ninth overall with 211 points but not far behind sixth place Cuesta (224), seventh Bakersfield (221) and eighth Diablo Valley (220.5).

The first day of finals started off with GWC grabbing 11th place in the 200 free relay, dropping over a second from the entered time. The foursome of Boston Frost, James Smith, Joao Goncalves and Gavin LIttle popped a 1:25.44 with Goncalves posting the fastest split (20.52).

The first individual event, the 500 freestyle, had Ryan Novak finishing second in 4:32.30 in a lifetime best. Teammate Jack Wright was 16th with a 4:42.49 effort, also a personal best. Jake M. Kiss kept the wave going with a superb effort in the 200 individual medley. His 1:51.90 time was good for fourth place overall and bettered his time by almost two seconds. The list of improved times stayed perfect with the 400-medley relay. The Rustlers dropped three seconds from their entered time highlighted by M. Kiss' effort on the opening backstroke split. The Whittier College-bound swimmer led off with a 51.89 time. Bobby Wright, Jack Wright and Novak completed the race for a total time of 3:32.05.

The second day of finals started where the first day ended in terms of momentum. The 200-medley relay team of B. Wright, Little, Frost and Goncalves sped to 1:38.62 time, good for 15th place. Jake M. Kiss then stunned the crowd by winning the 400 IM in a time of 3:57.68 with a margin of victory of more than six seconds. He felt that his backstroke leg would make the difference, and he opened up a two body length lead on the field by the halfway point. A solid breaststroke segment set up a less pressurized final four laps of freestyle that he covered in 54.8 seconds. Partly relieved but more elated, Jake commented, "I have never won anything that big before. I am really pleased with that time." Teammate Daigo Fujita swam an impressive prelim time, dropping over four seconds to sneak in as the final qualifier in the championship finals. He recorded a 4:14.98 to move up to seventh in the finals. Ryan Novak opted to swim the 200 free rather than the 400 IM and the decision was a good one, both for the GWC team and for Novak. He sped to 1:41.18 to finish fourth overall again keeping the GWC time improvement record perfect. Jack Wright (200 free) and Goncalves (100 back) added points from the consolation finals to add to the team total. The final event of the second day was the 800 free relay. GWC came in ranked third overall and elected to swim the same four guys in the same order that had annexed the Orange-Empire Conference title two weeks earlier.

Another tight battle with OCC ensued and this time, the Pirates prevailed but just barely by less than a second. The quartet of Novak, M. Kiss, Fujita and J. Wright dropped another two seconds to grab 30 points awarded to the fourth-place relay team.

The third day of finals started off with the 1650 freestyle. Earlier in prelims, Fujita and Taylor Juarez swam times fast enough to ultimately earn 10 and 15th place points. The excitement continued in the final heat which was expected to be a three-way race between Jack Painton

(Mt. Sac), Troy Quintana (Sierra) and GWC's Novak. After just ten laps, the race was just between Painton and Novak. They were stroke for stroke and at the 500, they passed that mark in 4:37, a time that would have finaled in the 500 free. However, by the 1000-yard mark, Painton had opened up a body length lead that would double by the 1300. At that point, Novak started the bounceback. With just four laps to go, he was still five yards but by virtue of a 54.08 final last 100, Novak made it a race decided by eight tenths of a second, one in which he was the silver medalist. Boston Frost picked up a point in the 100 IM. M. Kiss finished sixth in the 200 back (1:53.23) and the fly duo of Juarez and J. Wright swam perfectly paced races in the 200 event to grab 12th and 15th place overall. The final event of the day was the 400 free relay. GWC came through once again as Novak, M. Kiss, J Wright and newcomer James Smith posted a 3:10.37 to grab tenth overall. Smith had the top split, speeding to a 46.94, his best time this year by over three seconds.

Head Coach Tracy Maurer was pleased with his team. "We basically swam six days of near flawless racing when one factors in the conference meet and the State meet. Just qualifying for the State meet is a tough task but to come back and swim even faster here is impressive. Very proud of the boys and the coaching staff. The work that was put in by every individual was rewarded with solid performances when the stakes were at their highest." Coach Maurer is already looking forward to next season as eight of the ten swimmers who qualified for State are freshmen and are excited about their prospects for 2026.