Swim team wins first meet

Brandon+James+gets+ready+for+the+100+yard+backstroke+at+the+swim+meet+vs.+Mt.+San+Antonio+College.

Kain Piyanuluk

Brandon James gets ready for the 100 yard backstroke at the swim meet vs. Mt. San Antonio College.

Austin Currington, Staff member

The Diablo Valley College men’s swim team beat Mt. San Antonio College 199-80 on Friday at their first meet of the year, avenging last year’s loss against the Mounties.

The Vikings had won all dual meets for 12 years before 2014.

The crushing victory definitely sets the tone for the season.

Head coach Rick Millington seemed very determined this first meet and knew they were going to win even before the half time intermission.

“The men are definitely going to be a strong contender in state this year,” he said.

Millington is expecting to have a team of about 12 to 16 men, and about half as many women competing in state this year; which makes for a fairly large team.

The women did not compete on Friday and instead they used the time to do time trials for future competitions.

“The girls are swimming great today, but we’re going to see how they do when the pressure is on them,” said Millington.

Women’s team captains Laura Woods and Kelsey Leonard were very high spirited and excited for the season.

Woods is a freestyle sprinter and has been swimming competitively since she was 11 years old.

Swimmer Aditya Jalihal took first place in the men’s 200 yard and 100 yard freestyle races.

Jalihal is very excited for the upcoming season, and plans to go to state again this year.

Evan August won first place by almost 20 seconds over a Mt. San Antonio swimmer in the men’s 1,000-yard freestyle race with a time of 10:02.11.

August competed in the mile last year in state, a 1,760 yard race for a total of 66 laps in an Olympic size pool. After a sprint to the end, he pushed forward and took first place by one second with a time of 16:16.76; an extremely close win for such a long race.

August says he is faster than last year, already beating some of his past times.

Christine Nip and Camille Long dive off the board for their 100 breaststroke in the first meet of the season.
Kain Piyanuluk
Christine Nip and Camille Long dive off the board for their 100 breaststroke in the first meet of the season.