Visser, Faust help Vaqueros take third in WSC Finals
Rachelle Visser and Kaili Faust both finished second on Saturday at L.A. Valley as SBCC grabbed third place in its first appearance at the WSC Women’s Swimming Championships.
Day 3 Results
Rachelle Visser and Kaili Faust both finished second on Saturday at L.A. Valley as SBCC grabbed third place in its first appearance at the WSC Women's Swimming Championships.
Visser and Sienna van Alphen went 2-3 in the 100 butterfly. Visser posted a 1:00.08 and Van Alphen was timed in a season-best 1:03.08. Emily Wheeler was eighth with a PR of 1:07.46.
Faust, who competed with a shoulder injury, was second in the 100 breast (1:08.29) and three teammates placed in the top eight. Emily Foster was fifth (1:09.81), Janina Schulz took sixth and Malin Wallmon was eighth.
The Vaqueros were third out of 10 teams. Bakersfield won the three-day meet with 607 points. Valley was second at 554, followed by SBCC (507), Cuesta (450) and L.A. Pierce (341).
"All of our hard work throughout the season paid off," said coach Chuckie Roth. "Every swimmer swam at least two best times of the season at this meet. I was particularly proud of our leadership and our ability to swim well in pressure situations.
"Kaili Faust, Rachelle Visser, and Rocio Fesembeck swam injured all weekend, never complained and accepted every opportunity to get up and race. Everyone made everyone swim faster."
Autumn Lovett was seventh in the 100 back (PR of 1:05.17) and Dakota Chamberlin swam 1:08.83, lowering her personal best by five seconds. Sarah Westmoreland swam a best time of 58.73 to take 10th in the 100 free and Madelyn Brooks got under the minute mark for the first time in 59.57.
SBCC took fourth in the 400 free relay with a team of Schulz, Van Alphen, Emily Foster and Visser. They swam 3:46.43, shaving four seconds off their season best. Visser's split of 53.78 was the third-fastest among all the teams.
"Sienna van Alphen was an amazing inspiration to all, she stepped into several relay situations to do what the team needed her to do," Roth noted. "She just kept rising to the occasion and making more and more points for our team. A true competitor."
Faust posted two seconds and a fourth over the three-day meet while Visser had a second, third and fourth. Visser was instrumental in helping SBCC to top-4 finishes in four relays.
Santa Barbara went 7-2 in the WSC Finals, improving its season record to 28-8.
"I am excited about our first season and think it will create a lot of energy for next year," said Roth.
Several Vaqueros are expected to qualify for the State Championships on May 1-3 at East L.A.