Visser, Warren lead Vaqueros to first WSC swim title
Rachelle Visser won the 200 butterfly and Katherine Warren dominated the 1650 freestyle on Saturday as SBCC claimed its first WSC women’s swimming championship in just the second year of the program.
Rachelle Visser won the 200 butterfly and Katherine Warren dominated the 1650 freestyle on Saturday as SBCC claimed its first WSC women's swimming championship in just the second year of the program.
"It's pretty amazing," said coach Chuckie Roth, who also guided the Vaqueros to the WSC women's water polo title last fall in their first season. "Our girls worked hard and trained hard all year. There's a lot of special athletes on this team."
The Vaqueros finished with 522 points, beating runner-up Cuesta by 110 in the 10-team field at the Ventura Aquatic Center. Ventura was third at 376 and L.A. Pierce took fourth at 357.5.
Visser, a sophomore from Amersfoort, Holland, posted a school-record of 2:11.49 in the 200 fly and Alain Chela took second in 2:14.53. Visser won three events (200 IM, 400 IM, 200 fly) in the three-day meet and set WSC records each time.
Visser was named the WSC Swimmer of the Year and Roth picked up his second WSC Coach of the Year honor (he was also Coach of the Year in women's water polo).
Warren won the grueling 1650 free in a school-record 18:12.81. She beat the field by 61 seconds and notched the No. 2 time in the state this year. Warren recorded two firsts and a second at the WSC Championships.
Autumn Lovett was third in the 200 back and Ashley Macedo placed fourth in the 200 breaststroke. "Ashley's effort might have been our best swim of the day," said Roth.
The Vaqueros were touched out by Cuesta in the last race of the meet, the 400 free relay. The quartet of Macedo, Chela, Visser and Warren clocked a school-record of 3:41.88, just 0.66 of a second behind the winning Cougars.
SBCC finished third in the WSC and 12th in the state in last year's inaugural swim season.
They'll be shooting for the top 10 in this year's State meet, which will take place on April 30 and May 1-2 at East Los Angeles College.
