Giants' swim and dive take aim at CVC Championships
By Nick Giannandrea
COS ATHLETICS
Led by a motivated and talented group of sophomores, College of the Sequoias' men's and womens' swimming and diving teams have been on a program-elevating run the past two seasons.
And it's a run of individual and team success that's expected to continue through this weekend's Central Valley Conference Championships and extend into the state championship meet, where the Giants are poised to qualify their most competitors since Ally Briano took over as coach in 2017.
Sequoias has 35 individuals -- 20 men and 15 women -- entered in pursuit of repeat team titles at the CVC Championship meet, scheduled for April 20-22 at Merced College. Competition begins each day at 10 a.m.
"This is a really special group of athletes, many of whom have been together for a couple years through the Covid shutdown," Briano said. "They have put in a lot of work, and now it's time for them to shine. I'm excited to watch them compete for a championship. They have earned it."
A pair of reigning state medalists -- Jillian Lambert (Golden West High) and Joshy Peters (Redwood) -- headline the Giants' CVC Championships qualifiers.
Lambert, who captured state gold in the women's 50-yard freestyle race last season, enters the conference championships as the top seed in three individual events: the 50 free (24.48 seconds), 100 free (53.76) and 100 breast (1:10.23).
Peters, who was the state runner-up in the men's 200 free last season, also is top-seeded in three individual events: the 50 free (21.33), the 100 free (46.74) and the 200 free (1:45.76).
Both will be looking to continue making their marks on the college's career record books.
Lambert, who is Sequoias' record holder in the 50 breast (31.77) and 100 breast (1:07.40) individually, and as a member of the 200 free (1:44.2), 200 medley (1:55.48) and 400 medley (4:22.64) relays, has her sights set on two more records: the 50 free and 100 free.
Both are held by her mother, Erin (Stubbs) Lambert, who set the 100 free record (51.78) in 1996, and the 50 free record (23.96) in 1998.
Peters will be out to put his name on a 10th career school record, the 50 free. Peters' best time is one one-hundreths of a second behind the 21.32 set in 1999.
Peters is Sequoias' record-holder individually in the 50 back (24.38), 200 individual medley (1:55.94), 200 free (1:41.17), 100 back (53.79), 100 IM (53.33) and 100 free (45.44), and as a member of the 200 free (1:26.45), 200 medley (1:38.24) and 400 free (3:10.63) relays.
In addition to Lambert, the Giants' women's team is top-seeded in three other individual events and features a total of 21 top-three seeds.
Sofia Mora (Redwood) is top-seeded in the 500 free (5:49.74) and the 200 back (2:21.21), while Alex Bower (Redwood) is No. 1 in the 200 breast (2:47.22).
Seeded among the top-three are Mora in the 100 back (second, 1:03.96); McKenna Ruby (El Diamante) in the 500 free (third, 6:23.18) and 200 free (third, 2:16.57); Marley Thompson (El Diamante) in the 50 back (third, 32.03) and 100 back (third, 1:12.32); Eva McIlwaine (Hanford West) in the 200 IM (third, 2:33.26) and 200 breast (third, 2:49.75); Bower in the 50 breast (second, 34.80) and 100 breast (second, 1:15.13); Mariah Oliveira (Redwood) in the 50 fly (third, 33.34); Azulema Ayon (Exeter) in the 50 free (third, 26.16), 100 fly (second, 1:08.00) and 200 IM (second, 1:12.00); and Maycee Hyder (Porterville) in the 100 fly (third, 1:09.71) and 100 free (third, 59.01).
Seedings for the relays have not been announced, but Briano said she expects the Giants to be No. 1 or 2 in all five, with Mora, Lambert, Ayon and Hyder making up the 200 and 400 medley and free teams; and Lambert, Mora, McIlwaine and Hyder being on the 800 free team.
Also competing at the CVC Championships for the women's team are: Jessica Catalano (El Diamante), Makayla Hinojos (Golden West), Peyton McKinzie (Tulare Western), Lauren Salazar (Tulare Western), Chanel Santiago (Golden West) and Ella Satorre (Redwood).
For Sequoias' men, they have five other No. 1 individual seeds in addition to Peters, and 25 top-three seeds overall.
Dylan Wiggins (Porterville) is seeded first in the 50 back (28.14), 100 back (59.73) and 200 back (2:23.00), while Caleb Peltzer (Exeter) is top-seeded in the 200 IM (2:08.00) and the 100 IM (59.60).
Giants' men seeded among the top three include Ezra Sisk (El Diamante) in the 500 free (third, 5:31.16) 50 fly (third, 25.48), 100 fly (third, 54.93) and 200 fly (third, 2:13.26); Wiggins in the 200 free (third, 1:57.98); Mark Marroquin (Kingsburg) in the 50 back (second, 29.01) and 100 back (second, 1:05.54); Peltzer in the 100 breast (third, 1:03.26); Connor Bruton (Mt. Whitney) in the 50 breast (second, 27.91); 100 breast (second, 1:02.14) and 200 fly (second, 2:08.73); Zachary Welch (Exeter) in the 50 free (second, 21.76); 200 free (second, 1:46.00) and 100 free (second, 48.65); Dillon Coleman (Golden West) in the 100 IM (third, 1:08.00); Brett Loverin (Redwood) in the 200 back (third, 2:40.00); and Daniel Haley (Sierra Pacific-Hanford) in the 1,650 free (third, 20:21.85).
Briano said she expects the Giants to be top-seeded in all five men's relays, with Peters, Bruton, Sisk and Welch making up the 200 and 400 free relays; Welch, Marroquin, Peltzer and Peters on the 200 and 400 free relays; and Peters, Welch, Sisk and Marroquin on the 800 free relay.
The diving portion of the CVC Championships was held last weekend, with Sequoias' Easton Farmer (Golden West), Guy Woodard (Golden West) and Liam Henshaw (Golden West) finishing first through third, respectively. Their performances give the Giants a 150-point lead in the men's team standings.
Also competing for the men's team are Phillip Bell (Mt. Whitney), Daylen Kinser (Redwood), Josh Lopez-Chavez (Mt. Whitney), Damien Luna (Exeter), Isaac Maillard (Kingsburg), Alex Ramirez (Tulare Western) and Braden Rohmann (Mt. Whitney).
After this weekend's conference championship meets, swimmers with top 16 times statewide in each individual event qualify for the California Community College Athletic Association Championships, scheduled for May 3-5 at East Los Angeles College.
After advancing eight swimmers to the state meet last season, Briano said she expects between 13-18 to reach that stage this year.
"Our program is really in a healthy growth stage," Briano said. "I attribute that growth to people going into this season with more of a state meet mentality, and realizing that in order to get to the state level, we have to be doing more than the rest of the teams in our conference. We've been doing double days and hard core weight lifting. They have put in the work. They are bigger and faster."
Giants' swimmers have set eight school records this season and a total of 21 since 2022.
On the women's side, Mora set records in the 50 back (29.3), 100 back (1:03.2) and 200 back (2:21.19), while also being a member of record-breaking relays in the 200 free (1:44.2), 200 medley (1:55.48) and 400 medley (4:22.64) this season. The other members of those three relays are Lambert, Hyder and Ayon.
For the men, Peters set the mark in the 50 back this season, while Bruton eclipsed the record in the 50 breast (27.91).
Going back to 2022, in addition to the marks established by Lambert and Peters, school records have also been set in the women's 400 IM (5:31.79) and 200 breast (2:37.17) by McIlwaine and in the women's 200 fly by former Tulare Western standout Jennifer Sanchez (2:42.86).
In Briano's six seasons as Sequoias' coach, the Giants have broken school records in 13 of 24 women's events and 12 men's events.
"It's a contagious attitude they have," Briano said. "It's going to be hard to lose this sophomore class because they have worked so hard. But I think they have passed it on to the freshmen. It's why I continue to be passionate about this program, because the kids seem to be more and more motivated. They see what others have done and feel they better work just as hard."
The Giants are expected to send at least four swimmers on to the four-year level next season.
Bruton and Marroquin have already committed to UC Santa Cruz and the University of Indiana, respectively.
Lambert is being recruited by Fresno State and The Master's College, while Peters is being courted by Cal Poly, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and UNLV, according to Briano.
