Wolverines Capture BIG 8 Conference Title for Sixth Time in Seven Years
The Women's Swimming and Diving team headed to Santa Rosa Junior College for the weekend to compete in the BIG 8 Swimming and Diving Conference Championships. The Wolverines carried a deep roster of 18 swimming and diving athletes, all of whom had qualified for a Finals swim in every event each night. With each swim, the Wolverines seemed to only get faster than their previous times with everyone recording a personal best in most, if not all, of their swims.
By the end of Thursday night, the Wolverines led the other BIG 8 Schools with 250 points, including 2nd place finishes in both the 200 Freestyle Relay (1:40.85) and 400 Medley Relay (4:05.99). Great individual swims from Ally Boudreaux in the 50 Freestyle (25.00) resulted in a 2nd place finish and Evelyn Mitsuda in the 200 Individual Medley (2:19.62) resulted in a 3rd place finish.
At the end of Friday night, the Wolverines extended their total to 511 points. Another impressive relay time and finish was logged in the 200 Medley Relay (1:51.63) for a 2nd place finish. A 3rd and 5th place finish were posted for Gillian Cano (5:04.06) and Hannah James (5:11.71) in the 400 Individual Medley, respectively. In the 100 Breaststroke, the Wolverines took 2nd through 4th place with Morgan Forkum (1:06.04), Mary Downs (1:09.92), and Evelyn Mitsuda (1:11.29). Also in the 100 Breaststroke, teammates Bailey Hollick and Brey Pierce fought for a first-place finish in the consolation heat, where Brey Pierce (1:14.92) narrowly out-touched Bailey Hollick (1:14.95). Totaling the Top 8 finishes for Friday night, the Wolverines had 14 of them—exemplifying their roster depth.
The third and final night of Conference Championships was launched by an incredible swim by Noe Gardner in the 200 Backstroke where she placed 2nd with a 2:13.87—beating her opponent from American River College by over a full second. In the 200 Breaststroke the Wolverines had strength-in-numbers with a total of 6 athletes competing in the Top 8, leaving only room for two swimmers from Santa Rosa. Hannah Cockcroft (2:20.63) and Vega Alvarez (2:39.81) braved the 200 Butterfly to record 4th and 7th place finishes. In the everlasting event of the 1650 Freestyle, swimmer Mackenzie Neese returned to post a faster time to her previous year at the State Championships, earning her a 4th place finish with a time of 19:20.27.
The previous weekend at Delta College in Stockton, CA, Diver Kiara Lopez earned the Wolverines a combined 30 points on both boards. She scored 144.65 points on the 1-meter board, placing 5th in the BIG 8 Conference. Lopez followed up her 5th place finish on the 1-meter board with a 3rd place finish on the 3-meter board scoring 173.70 points.
With all of these impressive performances from the Wolverines' swimmers and diver, they took home their 6th title in the past 7 years, adding to Head Coach, Scott Decker's extensive resume of 14 Swimming and Diving Conference Championship titles. The Wolverines final point total for Conference was 776 points—a whopping 209 points over 2nd place finishers, the Santa Rosa Bear Cubs.
The Women's Swimming and Diving team will head to Orange Coast College May 2nd through May 4th to compete in the CCCAA Swimming and Diving Championships for a shot at their second State Championship Title.