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The Men's swimming team continued on their winning ways.
In the South Coast Conference Championship, it was the last chance of the season to qualify to go to the state championships held at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo.
The Panthers took care of business.
Starting on Thurs. April 24, the Panthers won the 200 freestyle relays as they left their competitors in their wake.
Chaffey found themselves victorious with 791 points. The rest of the field, 2 through 8, scored as follows: Cerritos College (643), Long Beach City College (485), El Camino College (461), Mt. San Antonio College (405), Pasadena City College (364), Rio Hondo College (125), and Los Angeles City College (99).
For the second year in a row, Panther Akbar Nasution was selected Conference Swimmer of the Year.
Nasution won all three of the individual events that he competed in, and he was a vital part four of the five relay races that Chaffey won. His individual wins came in the 500 freestyle (4:34.85), 200 free style (1:40.73), and the 200 breaststroke (2:02.23). He qualified for the state championships with all of his wins, and the (2:02.23) broke the conference record that he set last year.
Joining Akbar on the victory stand were teammates sophomore Ryan Larson and freshman Todd Johnson, both from Alta Loma High School. Larson won the 200 individual medley (1:54.76) and the 400 individual medley (4:10.67). Both times qualified him to compete in state championships. Johnson's victory came in the 1650 freestyle, where he finished the 66-lap race (16:56.11), qualifying him for the championships also.
The victory stand was crowded with the Panther relay winners who won all 5 relay races. Winning the 200 freestyle relays in the time of 1:27.72 was Johnson, Chris Furuno, Bryant Jackson, and Benny Respati. Winning the 400-medley relay was Larson, Nasution, Furuno and Respati in 1:35.00, and they also won the 200-medley relay in 1:37.21.
In the 800 freestyle relays, Johnson, Bryant, Jackson, Larson and Nasution broke the school record with their winning time of 3:10.78. In the diving competitions, which are a vital part of the overall Chaffey swimming program, freshmen Henry Affeldt took 2nd place in both the 1- and 3-meter board, with scores of 183.30 and 198.5. He also made the state championships.
Double workouts and weight training on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, combined with the social sacrifices, proved helpful to the success of the team.
His fellow coaches honored Coach Mike Dickson as the Coach of the year.
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