Men's and Women's Swim Teams Win State Championships

FINAL Men Standings: 1. Golden West 430, 2. Palomar 325, 3. Diablo Valley 313,  4. Cuesta 310.5; 5. Ventura 266, 6.  Orange Coast 261, 7. El Camino 228,  8. West Valley 195, 9. American River 193.5; 10. Grossmont 158. 

FINAL Women Standings: 1. Golden West 445, 2. Diablo Valley 415, 3. Ventura 387.5, 4.  Santa Rosa 338, 5. Orange Coast 327;  6. Sierra 272.5; 7. Riverside City 255,  8. Pasadena City 188; 9. San Diego Mesa 176, 10. American River 128.

A year after its Orange Empire Conference foe Orange Coast performed the feat, Golden West College pulled a double team championship victory at the 2013 CCCAA Swimming and Diving State Championships. 

The Rustlers' women scored a sweep of all five relay events, including three state meet records capped by the 400-yard freestyle relay finale. The Golden West women captured their first state title since 2001 and fourth in the college's swim history. The 2013 state meet produced seven state records overall in the women's competition. In all, the Rustlers scored eight event victories, including two on Saturday by Lauren Vosseler in the 100 backstroke and 100 freestyle.

The GWC men were led by four event victories, including two by Ian Wheeler, who captured the 1,650-yard freestyle and 500 freestyle titles. The Rustlers also won the 800 freestyle relay. 

The Rustlers won their first men's title since 2004 and 12th in their history. Golden West head coach and State Women's Coach of the Year Mark Schubert talked about winning the double.

"When it came to the women, I told them in a meeting before the season that they had the ability to win a state title," a soaked Schubert said after joining his teams in a celebration dive into the pool, "and they said 'we don't want to even think about that, let's just win conference first.' Well, I knew we had four tremendous sprinters. 

"They gained confidence last year, and then they just performed so well here at state. Lauren Vosseler was a leader for us, and it was just amazing to see her win three events back-to-back-to-back (one relay)."

On the men, Schubert said, "We had a group of water polo players who happened to be great swimmers. I can't say enough about the way Fletcher Norseen helped us on relays with his speed. Ian Wheeler showed his endurance in winning the long freestyles. My assistant coaches, Scott Taylor, Kyle Kopp and Danny Johnson were there for our swimmers all season and were a big help to me, so I could devote more time to coaching from the pool deck."

Palomar finished a surprising state runner-up in the men's standings while Diablo Valley was the women's runner-up.

EVENT-BY-EVENT RECAPS

April 27, Day 3 Event Recap with Winners in bold face

Event 29 Women's 1,650-yard freestyle—Natasha Tang, Ventura, 17:07.13 Only a year after a new record was set by Golden West's Jade Morton, Tang challenged that mark and fell just 2.43 seconds behind in a runaway victory over second-place Megan O'Rourke (Santa Rosa, 17:51.71). Mor Flaisman, of Los Angeles Valley College, kept her pace for third place at 18:01.92. It was Tang's second victory of the meet as she also captured the 500 freestyle title. Just to show the endurance of the Ventura freshman, she swam her second fastest leg (28.96) on her final 50.   

Event 30 Men's 1,650-yard freestyle—Ian Wheeler, Golden West, 15:55.41 Just like the women's competition, the 500-freestyle winner also took the mile race in Wheeler, who broke the 16-minute mark. Wheeler, a sophomore, led his finals heat from start to finish. Palomar's Neil Fogel tried to catch Wheeler and swam a 54.32 over the final 100 yards, but settled for second at 16:00.56. El Camino's Jonathan Diaz took third at 16:05.04.   

 Event 31 Women's 100-yard backstroke—Lauren Vosseler, Golden West, 57.37 Vosseler picked up Golden West's sixth event victory of the meet, using a long reach at the wall to make sure she would stay ahead a charging second-place McKenna Stevulak (Las Positas), who swam 57.71. Palomar's Kylie Brown, the early leader, snagged third at 58.13 while Ventura's Christina Robledo wasn't far behind in fourth at 58.44. 

Event 32 Men's 200-yard backstroke—Henry Chung, Ventura, 1:48.58 Chung scored his third victory of the meet (also the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke) using an explosive opening 50 of 24.24 to pull away from the field. Chung won by 2.85 seconds over second-place Wyatt Woodward (Palomar, 1:51.43). Santa Rosa's Andrew Hayes took third at 1:52.03. In all, Chung won six individual event titles in two years for the Pirates. 

Event 33 Women's 100-yard freestyle—Lauren Vosseler, Golden West, 50.40 With not much rest from winning the 100 backstroke title, Vosseler came right back with a second victory that was just .04 of a second off the state meet record. Vosseler opened at 24.46 and also closed with another fastest-of-the-field second split of 25.94. Cypress' Jacelyn Youngerman took second at 51.96 while Rustlers' teammates Margaret Dix (52.02) and Brooke Roy (52.13) were third and fourth place, respectively. GWC picked up event victory No. 7 at the 2013 state meet.

Event 34 Men's 100-yard freestyle—Fletcher Norseen, Golden West, 44.85 Norseen got a quick start of 21.24 and took it to victory despite fast closes by the second through fourth place finishers. Norseen held off Zach Selfridge (West Valley, 45.24), Golden West teammate Dylan Alba (45.33) and Orange Coast's Sean Richards (45.46) for the gold. It was the Rustlers' fourth event victory of the meet.

Event 35 Women's 100-yard breaststroke—Shaila Yoder, Diablo Valley, 1:04.69 Yoder cut Golden West's scoring lead at this point over Diablo Valley, 388-373, with her second event victory of the meet. Yoder was runner-up in this event as a freshman, but used a superb second 50 of 34.17 to give her more than enough in defeating Golden West's Melissa Bergesen (1:05.62) and Marin's Raquel Newman (1:05.70), who had tied Yoder for the top prelims time earlier in the day. Yoder's other win was her state record in the 50 breaststroke. 

Event 36 Men's 200-yard breaststroke—Tim Richard, Modesto, 2:00.06 Richard tried to make it three straight years of state records in this event, but his mark (second-best of the three times) fell just .71 of a second short of last year's record of 1:59.35 set by Santa Monica's Jeff Lum. Richard picked up his third event victory (200 IM and 100 breaststroke) of the meet as his 30.43 second 50 leg crushed the field.    

 Event 37 Women's 100-yard butterfly—Mackenzie Bailie, Orange Coast, 56.45 Sometimes the swim gods can be cruel and other times they can set up a fitting end. In the final individual event, Bailie finally picked up her gold medal a day after she suffered a DQ in the 50 fly (due to a false start). Bailie, who set the state meet record in the 50 fly during the prelims, didn't set a state mark here but used every bit of her talent to edge Golden West's Zeineb Kalfallah, who hit the wall just .02 of second behind Bailie. Ironically, another great swimmer, Alexandria Holland of Santa Rosa, took third place at 57.23.   

Event 38 Men's 200-yard butterfly—Monty Randall, Diablo Valley, 1:50.11 DVC's Randall made it a sweep of the two butterfly events with his victory here. Randall was not threatened as Santa Monica's Billy Wild (1:51.69) took second and Golden West's Daniel Roa was third (1:51.79). Defending state champion Stephen To of Pasadena City took sixth at 1:54.83. 

Event 39 ***Women's 400-yard freestyle relay—Golden West, 3:27.47 (new state meet record) swimmers—Zeineb Kalfallah, Brooke Roy, Melissa Bergesen, Lauren Vosseler Vosseler anchored her third win of the day and completed the Rustlers' sweep of all five relays as Golden West set its third state meet record in the relays. Golden West beat its own 13-year-old record in the event of 3:28.89. Vosseler closed at 50.44 in her split to push the Rustlers over the top and clinch their state team title. Margaret Dix wasn't a part of this relay, but was a member of the team's other four relay triumphs. Ventura took second place at 3:32.84. 

Event 40 Men's 400-yard freestyle relay—West Valley, 3:03.71 swimmers—Adrian Dumas, Wes Lincoln, Alex Amm, Zach Selfridge West Valley scored a win in the meet's final event, beating state team champ Golden West by just .27 of a second. Cuesta wasn't far behind at 3:04.18. Despite a runner-up finish, the Rustlers' quartet of Dylan Alba, Ari Marks, Jack Blake, and Fletcher Norseen were all smiles, knowing their squad had clinched the men's team title.                                                  

Release by Robert Lewis, CCCAA State Meet SID, CCCSIA Executive Board