SBCC Inducts 2026 Hall of Fame Class
By Jimmy Friery
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Santa Barbara City College Athletics department inducted its seventh class into the Vaqueros Hall of Fame on Saturday in the Campus Center.
The class included four athletes—Addison Seale (Women's Water Polo), Kailey Snyder (Softball), Mitch Wishnowsky (Football), and Rachelle Visser (Women's Swimming)—Men's Tennis coach Jack Sanford, and the 1996 Men's Soccer State Championship Team with coach Tim Vom Steeg.
Seale and Visser were the Hall's first two Aquatics inductees, each representing one of the programs. Serving as the captain of both the Water Polo and Swim teams, Seale led the former to the State Championship game in 2016. She was named the school's Female Athlete of the Year her freshman year and the Scholar-Athlete of the Year her sophomore year.
Visser, traveling from the Netherlands, was the school's first big-time swimmer—and there have been a lot since. First competing in the program's inaugural season of 2014, she still holds spots high up the record books. In the following year, she helped the Vaqueros win their first Western State Conference (WSC) championship, of which they have won every year since. Visser was named Swimmer of the Meet at the 2015 State Championships, winning the 200 and 400 IMs.
Snyder, too, was a program's first-ever inductee—for Softball. The driving force behind the program's best season, the 2011 Vaqueros went 31-7 on the way to a WSC Gold Division championship. Snyder was excellent both in the circle and the batter's box; she recorded 233 strikeouts to the tune of a 0.94 ERA while hitting .478.
Wishnowsky, an Australia native, was the punter on the 2014 Football team that amassed a seven-game winning streak. He would move on to the University of Utah, winning the Ray Guy Award while being a two-time NCAA All-American and three-time All-Pac-12 First Team member. He has enjoyed a seven-year NFL career to date after being drafted in the fourth round by the San Francisco 49ers in 2019.
Coach Jack Sanford pioneered the Men's Tennis program in 1965, beginning 50 years of service at SBCC. One of the highlights was the 1989 State title, capping a 24-2 record season. That team is already a part of the Hall of Fame, being inducted with the 2024 class. Overall, Sanford logged a 459-143 record by the time he retired in 1994, but went on to teach tennis classes as an adjunct PE instructor until 2015.
Coach Tim Vom Steeg also pioneered the soccer programs at SBCC, in 1992, resulting in a State title just a few years later. The 1996 Men's team finished 20-2-0, routing Palomar 6-0 in the State Final to cap the magical season. At the ceremony, Vom Steeg praised the team's local style of play, while most players spoke glowingly of how each player was a master of his role, whatever it was. Of the 17 players, 11 came from Santa Barbara or Ventura County. Vom Steeg won another championship in Santa Barbara 10 years later—an NCAA National Championship with UCSB, where he continues to coach.
To learn more about the Vaqueros Hall of Fame, visit the web page.