By John M. Sherrard

(Walnut, CA)  A big first day for the Mt. SAC Men's Swimming and Diving team has vaulted them into first place on day one of the South Coast Conference Championships at the Marie T. Mills Aquatic Center Thursday afternoon.

The Mounties (235) have a 51-point lead over second place Long Beach City College (184).

"A great day-one for the Mounties," Mt. SAC Men's Swimming and Diving coach Marc Ruh said. "The kids swam phenomenally! Many of them exceeded our expectations and we are looking forward to a strong day-2 and 3. I am very proud of the entire team for their performances today."

Two conference championships were crowned as sophomore Kyle Chang won in the 50 Freestyle and freshman Spencer Chlebowski took home the grueling 500 Free. Sophomore Renen Devito finished n second in the 500 Free.

Chang was just 88 hundredths of a second off of the SCC record, while Chlebowski was the second consecutive Mountie to win the title in the 500.

Mt. SAC also finished in second in both relays – 200 Free and the 400 Medley with times of 1:28.12 and 3:37.02 respectively.

The team of Devito, Bryan Calderon (SO), Eric Amancio (FR) and Zachary Justus (FR) were just under a second behind first-place LBCC in the 200 Free.

Members of the 400 Medley team were: Chang, Calderon, Alex Neoh (FR) and Ashcon Dejbakhsh (SO).

The diving team, which picked up 47 points in the conference championships last week, was led by freshman Andres Jaramillo with a second-place finish. Sophomore Esteban Martinez, who advanced to state last season, placed second on Thursday and Zachary Justus took fifth. 

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For additional information, please contact the Mt. SAC Sports Information Office at 909.274.4630.