Visser claims SBCC’s first State individual title

Rachelle Visser captured the first State individual title for SBCC on Thursday, taking the 200 individual medley on Day 1 of the CCCAA State Swim Championships at East L.A. College.

The sophomore from Holland posted a school-record 2:07.43, which was 2.45 seconds faster than the runner-up, Yingfei Zhang of East L.A.

"2.45 seconds … that's a commanding win," said coach Chuckie Roth. "She was behind at the halfway point, then swam a great split in the breaststroke and made up a full body-length in the freestyle."

Visser swam the best free anchor leg (29.98) in the eight-woman final. Alaina Chela took seventh in 2:15.46.

The Vaqueros are in eighth place with 59 points after Day 1. Santa Rosa leads with 138 points, followed by Orange Coast (136) and Diablo Valley (122).

"That's quite an improvement for us," said Roth, who guided the Vaqueros to 12th in the State last year in their first season. "A year ago, we had zero points on the first day."

Katherine Warren placed ninth in the 500 free and set a school record of 5:19.34. The 400 medley relay of Autumn Lovett, Ashley Macedo, Chela and Visser was 10th in 4:08.62 for another school record.

The 200 free relay team took 15th place. The Vaqueros have seven swimmers competing in 11 individual events and five relays in the three-day meet.