Posted: Apr 22, 2017
By John M. Sherrard
(Walnut, CA) The Mt. SAC Women's Swimming & Diving captured their third South Coast Conference (SCC) Championship, in the last four years, at the Marie T. Mills Aquatic Center, on Saturday afternoon.
The Mounties finished with 730.5 points. Over a hundred points ahead of second-place El Camino College (615) and 350 points more than third place, East Los Angeles College (380).
Mt. SAC Head Coach Chris Jackson was named SCC Coach of the Year for the second consecutive year.
"We are very fortunate to have great student-athletes who work hard," Jackson said. "We train and taper for this meet and (the) state (championships) is icing on the cake."
The California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) State Championships will be held from May 4th through the 6th, at East Los Angeles College (Monterey Park, CA).
Sophomore Kaitlyn Dickinson broke her own conference record in the 200 Butterfly with a time of 2:15.06, .76 seconds ahead of her 2016 time. Dickinson started fast, took the lead after the first lap and never looked back. "It's crazy," said Dickinson of the record. "I worked so hard to break it again and I did."
"To watch Kaitlyn finish that 200 and set another conference record, you got to love that," stated Jackson. Dickinson finishes here career as a Mountie with 10 medals; five this year and five last year.
She also placed second in the 200 IM on Day 1 and was a member of four second-place relay teams.
The Mounties swept the 200 Butterfly event with freshman Nikita Rubio (2:25.21) finishing second and sophomore Jazzie Hernandez (2:28.43) third.
"Sweeping that 200 Fly was a big deal, especially with Jazzie fighting through her pain to finish third," Jackson added. "She dug down deep at that point."
Mt. SAC also swept the 200 Backstroke. Freshman Angelica Quesada captured the event with a time of 2:14.23, while freshman Jerica Djapri (2:15.47) and freshman Julia Nicholson (2:20.74) placed second and third respectively.
Hannah Schmidt had the biggest improvement in time for the Mounties.
The sophomore, who also was a member of the second-place 400 Freestyle Relay, trimmed 30 seconds off of her time in the grueling mile swim on Saturday. She finished second with a time of 19:14.75, which is just over the qualifying mark for state.
"I have been working tirelessly since last season and hit the ground running this year as soon as fall started," said Schmidt of her goals for this year. "I want to make it to state in the mile."
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For additional information, please contact the Mt. SAC Sports Information Office at 909.274.4630