Men’s swim and dive battles to fourth overall finish at SCAC championships

The Colorado College Men’s Swimming and Diving team competed in the SCAC Championships in Rockwall, Texas at the Rockwell ISD Natatorium this past weekend and performed extremely well, notching a fourth-place finish with a total of 505 points behind Trinity University, Southwestern University, and Centenary College. Trinity has been a big competitor for CC for the past five seasons, but the team now has the swimmers and divers who are able to compete with them.

The swimming and diving team take their training for this meet very seriously all season. Head Coach Anne Goodman James says their training throughout the season caters to their performances at this meet. While there may be some performances during the season that are sacrificed, Goodman James is adamant that other setbacks are worth a solid performance at the SCAC Championships.

“We have to taper to this meet so the swimmers will peak at this individual moment,” she said.

This team is relatively small in numbers with only fourteen swimmers, but they swim with a lot of heart and that is what makes this small team so successful.

At the SCAC Championship, times were improved all across the board with big point scorers from CC Tigers Chris Garrity, Erik Laitos, Brian Kopec, and Sam Zuke. Austin Howlett even broke both school records and SCAC records in the 1,000 freestyle with a time of 956.37. Coach James says that Howlett is “head and shoulders above competition in the conference and is in a league of his own.”

Matt Nadel had the performance of the meet, and Coach James commented that he “stands out the most because of his incredible work ethic and his phenomenal performances.”

Nadel had a back injury all season and was unable to do any flip turns, slowing down his times considerably, but during his event at the SCAC Championships, he had a breakaway and never looked back. Nadel won the 1,650 freestyle with a season-best time of 16:30.02, beating the school record by 2.78 seconds.   

Junior Alex Garner swam the 100 and 200 breaststroke extremely well, but struggled to find another event at which to excel, until he decided to dive for the CC Tigers earlier on in the season. Coach Goodman James says it was his “gift to the team,” and everyone on the team admires him for stepping up and training for both. He was the only competitor at the meet that competed in both swimming and diving events. His versatility secured the Tigers a fourth place finish at this championship meet.

Returning swimmers Crane Sarris, Yang Yu, and Alex Garner have promising careers ahead of them. Sarris is a top sprinter on the team as a sophomore and is a great learner. He swims faster than anyone in freestyle, and Coach James comments that he has a “bright future and will be able to compete with anyone.” Yu, a sophomore, scored in all events and made a giant step towards reaching his potential as a senior.

The CC Men’s Swimming and Diving team performed phenomenally in the SCAC Championships this past weekend, and next season is looking promising.

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