Thursday marked the start of the South Coast Conference Swim Championships at Mt. SAC. Warmups began in the morning, followed by the preliminary races to qualify for the finals at 4 p.m.
The diving portion of the competition occurred last week, so Mt. SAC’s women’s team came into the day with 108 team points while the Mt SAC men’s team came in with 107 team points.
Kyle Chang got the Mt. SAC crowd in attendance roaring after winning the men’s 50 freestyle with a time of 20.21 seconds.
“It feels pretty good, it was my best time ever,” he said. “I didn’t think I would be able to do that well for that [event].”
Chang credited his preparation for his victory in the event.
“A lot of hours at the pool and a good amount of sleep,” he said chuckling.
Assistant Athletic Director and Men’s Aquatics Head Coach Marc Ruh was proud of Mt. SAC’s performance during the first day of conference championships.
“Great, it went really well. We had conference champions in the 500 freestyle with Spencer Chlebowski and then with the 50 freestyle,” he said. “We were second in the 500 as well, we had a lot of good finishes in the 200 individual medley.”
Mt SAC swimming and diving didn’t just do well competing against other schools, they also elevated their personal performances as well.
“Our times dropped a lot so day one was as good as we could have hoped for,” Ruh said.
The season and preparation for these sort of meets is year-round, but the athletes must also pace themselves in order to have success.
“The kids have been working since August and they have been training all the way through, with a short break for Christmas,” he said. “It’s just a matter of backing off the training a little bit and that gives them more energy.”
After day one of competition, the women’s swimming and diving team for Mt. SAC is in second place with 210.5 team points. The men’s team is in first place with 210 team points. Day two is set to begin at 10 a.m. Friday with warmups, followed by qualifications and finals at 4 p.m.
“Day two is a lot of the same stuff. Tomorrow we have our 400 individual medley, we have our 100 meter stroke and we have the 200 freestyle as well,” Ruh said.
“We have two medley relays, the 200 and the 800 relay at the end of the day. So tomorrow is a big day. There is a lot of events and kids are going to be beat up,” he added. “Kids swimming two or three event relays. It’s going to be a tough day for them.”
