Posted: Apr 25, 2023

Dozen Event Wins Helps Mt. SAC To SCC Women's Swim/Dive Championship

Mt. SAC's women's team (seen with the victorious men's team) wins the 2023 SCC Championships.

Mt. San Antonio College swept the five relays and scored seven more individual event wins in racing to the women's team title at the South Coast Coast Conference Swimming and Diving Championships held at East Los Angeles College April 20-22.

The Mounties scored 829 points and won over second-place Long Beach City by a whopping 234-point margin. Three swimmers, Madison Dorsey, Melissa Chavez and Lexis Brattain, each won two events while Laila Topinio won the 1,650-yard freestyle at 19:01.11.

Dorsey scored wins in the 200 individual medley (2:21.78) and 100 freestyle (56.97) and nearly had a third gold medal but was beaten at the wall just .16 of a second behind Pasadena City College's Nickey Hale in the 400 IM.

Melissa Chavez captured the 100 (1:10.63) and 200 breastroke titles (2:35.07) while Lexis Brattain mastered the 100 (1:02.14) and 200 backstroke races (2:12.66).

The Mounties relay triumphs began with the 200 freestyle relay (Brattain, Isabell Ortega, Chavez and Parker Damaske, 1:43.35) followed by the 400 medley relay (Brattain, Chavez, Julia De La Garza, and Dorsey, 4:12.67), the 200 medley relay (Brattain, Chavez, De La Garza and Ortega, 1:54.43), the 800 freestyle relay (Damaske, Topinio, Ortega and Dorsey), and then culminating with their fifth relay victory in the 400 freestyle relay (Damaske, Chavez, Brattain, and Dorsey, 3:47.55).

ECC's MIA PARK SETS THREE SCC RECORDS

El Camino's Mia Park proved to be the SCC Women's Swimmer of the Year in breaking three conference records while winning the 100 butterfly (record 56.38), the 200 butterfly (record 2:07.17) and 500 freestyle (5:02.89, not a record).

She scored another record in the 200 freestyle as her 1:52.31 broke a 24-year-old mark set by Golden West's Alyson Edoff at 1:53.34 in 2000. That swim led off the ECC 800 freestyle relay. The 100 fly mark broke the longest standing conference swim record of 25 years set by El Camino's Heidi Kissel in 1999 (56.85).

Mt. SAC head coach Chris Jackson was the SCC Women's Coach of the Year and Lani Ruh Assistant COY while LBCC's Shane Butler was Diving COY.

FINAL STANDINGS: 1. Mt. San Antonio 829, 2. Long Beach 589, 3. El Camino 447, 4. East Los Angeles 320, 5. Cerritos 294, 6. Pasadena 272, 7. Chaffey 230, 8. Rio Hondo 215.

STATE MEET UPDATE

Park has the state's top times in the 100, 200, and 500 freestyles going into the CCCAA Championships on May 4-6 at ELAC's Swim Stadium.

Edited: Long Beach's Katie Juarez, the SCC Diver of the Year, was ninth in the state (185.85) from the 1-meter board, 12th from the 3-meter board (158.40).

Based on entries into the state meet, Brattain is fifth in both the 100 and 200 backstroke events. Topinio is seventh in the 1,650 freestyle.

Mt. SAC has the eighth fastest times in the 200 and 400 medley relays.

Mia Park in action