By John M.Sherrard

(Walnut, CA) For the fourth consecutive year, the Mt. SAC Men's Swimming & Diving Team captured the South Coast Conference (SCC) Championship by a wide margin over its nearest competitor.  

This past Saturday afternoon, at the Marie T. Mills Aquatic Center (Mt. SAC-Walnut, CA), the team finished with a whopping 845 points, well ahead of second-place Long Beach City College (590) and third-place Pasadena City College (544).

"We love winning the conference championship," said Mt. SAC Swimming and Diving Coach Marc Ruh, who was named SCC Coach of the Year. "The kids work really hard and this is a tradition we want to keep going.

"We kind of think of ourselves as a blue collar team.  We don't have a lot of swimmers with club experience.  We get a lot of kids that work hard and want to improve.  We go to work every day and look forward to this meet."

Mountie freshman Spencer Chlebowski, who produced three individual championships and was a member of two first-place relay teams, was named SCC Co-Swimmer of the Year.

"When I first visited the Mt. SAC pool, I saw the sign that read 'The College of Champions' and that really spoke to me," said Chlebowski, who has been swimming since he was 11 years old.  "I thought, 'this is where I need to be'".

"It's the numbers that make the team. It's not who wins, but who gets second, third and fourth. Every (dual) meet has come down to that."

This marked the third consecutive SCC Swimmer of the Year Honor awarded to a Mountie. "I was super excited for that and definitely wasn't expecting that," replied Chlebowski.

"When we first met Spencer we knew he was a talented swimmer, but we didn't know he could do this," Ruh said. "He just hates to lose."

Sophomore Kyle Chang, the only other individual champion for the Mounties, captured the 50 Freestyle with a time of 21.20.  "Last year I had a 22.2 and I ended up dropping it an entire second this year to 21.2."

The Mounties will conclude their season at the 2017 California Community College Athletic Association Championships which will be held from May 4th through the 6th at East Los Angeles College (Monterey Park, CA).

Mounties finishing in the top three at the SCC Championships:

CHAMPIONS

• Kyle Chang (50 Yard Freestyle) - 21.20
• Spencer Chlebowski (400 Yard Individual Medley) - 4:13.38
• Spencer Chlebowski (500 Yard Freestyle) - 4:43.95
• Spencer Chlebowski (1650 Yard Freestyle) - 16:45.64
• 400 Yard Freestyle Relay (Spencer Chlebowski, Kyle Chang, Ashcon Dejbakhsh, Renen Devito) - 3:09.88
• 800 Yard Freestyle Relay (Renen Devito, Spencer Chlebowski, Ashcon Dejbakhsh, Kyle Chang) - 7:07.24

SECOND PLACE FINISHERS

• Bryan Calderon (100 Yard Breastroke) - Second Place - 58.89
• Renen DeVito (100 Yard Freestyle) - Second Place - 47.58
• Renen DeVito (500 Yard Freestyle) - Second Place - 4:47.27
• Omar Heblos (200 Yard Butterfly) - Second Place - 1:59.94
• Andres Jaramillo (1 Meter Diving) - Second Place - 151.80 points
• Andres Jaramillo (3 Meter Diving) - Second Place - 162.05 points
• 200 Yard Freestyle Relay (Renen Devito, Bryan Calderon, Eric Amancio, Zachary Justyus) - Second Place - 1:28.12
• 400 Yard Medley Relay (Kyle Chang, Bryan Calderon, Alex Neoh, Ashcon Dejbakhsh) - Second Place - 3:37.02

THIRD PLACE FINISHERS

• Bryan Calderon (200 Yard Breastroke) - Third Place - 2:11.20
• Kyle Chang (200 Yard Backstroke) - Third Place
• Kyle Chang (200 Yard Backstroke) - Third Place
• Kyle Chang (200 Yard Freestyle) - Third Place - 1:43.55
• Ashcon Dejbakhsh (100 Yard Freestyle) - Third Place - 48.35
• Zachary Justus (1 Meter Diving) - Third Place - 136.50 points
• Esteban Martinez (3 Meter Diving) - Third Place - 120.10 points
• Alex Neoh (100 Yard Butterfly) - Third Place - 53.99
• 200 Yard Medley Relay (Kyle Chang, Bryan Calderon, Alex Neoh, Ashcon Dejbakhsh)- Third Place - 1:38.67

CLICK HERE for complete results from the 2017 SCC Swimming and Diving Championships.

Follow Mt. SAC Men's Swimming & Diving on twitter @mtsacaquatics

Follow Mt. SAC Athletics on Twitter @MtSAC_athletics or Facebook @Mountie.Athletics

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