Swimmers take their marks before an individual race at a meet against University of California, San Diego, Jan. 16. The meet was the last homestand of the season before the teams travel to compete in the RMAC championships.
The men’s and women’s swim and dive teams at California Baptist University are nearing the end of a winning season this year, as both teams currently carry outstanding regular season records.
Rick Rowland, head coach of the men’s and women’s swim teams, said the current progress of this season is strong.
“Each week, we get into better shape and we are on different phases of training,” Rowland said. “We always look forward to our (Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) meets and it is a challenge because there are other good teams in our conference.”
Jeff Couto, head diving coach, said the teams are in a good place according to progress this season.
“The men’s teams are undefeated and the women’s teams lost barely to a Division I program,” Couto said. “We are transitioning to conference and NCAA opponents.”
The men’s swim and dive team recently won their home swim meet against No. 5-ranked University of California, San Diego, Jan. 16, with a final score of 161-137, to improve their undefeated 5-0 regular season record.
Josh Hanson, senior electrical and computer engineering major, made a big impact during the Senior Day meet by winning first place in all four of his events, including a 400-yard team medley in the beginning of the meet with a time of three minutes and 22.94 seconds.
“From the beginning of the season, we got a couple of guys that really improved a lot,” Hanson said. “I feel really good about the progress of this season so far.”
The women’s team also improved with a 173-127 victory over No. 2-ranked University of California, San Diego, on Jan. 16.
Yosita Hapsari, senior kinesiology major, made a large contribution in the victory by winning first place in all three of her events, including a 200 individual freestyle with a time of one minute and 53.74 seconds.
“Every girl swims faster compared to previous years,” Hapsari said. “The freshmen have improved since their first meet.”
Rowland said that this meet was the match of the season because the men’s team was ranked No. 12 and the women’s team was ranked No. 6 going up against higher-ranked opponents and gaining a victory over them.
Rowland will lead his teams into the RMAC championship meets Feb. 10-13 in Grand Junction, Colo.
Last season, the men’s swim team won second place out of five teams in the RMAC championship and the women’s team won first place out of eight teams. Both teams will look to improve from last season’s results and take the RMAC championship titles.
