Benefield: Newcomer to swimming among SRJC's best bets at state meet

Heading into the California Community College Athletic Association state swim and dive meet Thursday, Santa Rosa Junior College’s sophomore Christine Lewis, who by the way, is ranked No. 1 in the state in the 100-yard breaststroke, tells me she’s not a swimmer.

Say what?

Let’s clarify.

For years, Lewis competed in synchronized swimming. She even earned a college scholarship in the sport before the school of her choice abruptly shuttered the program. She did swim for El Molino High School, but said her true focus was on synchronized. No club racing teams, no year round competitions. So when asked about her preparation going into the state meet which starts Thursday in Los Angeles, she talked about the double days, the grueling workouts, all being relatively new to her.

“I’m not a swimmer, so it’s hard for me,” the Bear Cubs co-captain said.

“She came out of nowhere, that’s for sure,” said sophomore teammate Miranda Howell, who competed for Santa Rosa High School. “It’s unbelievable.”

Head coach Jill McCormick said she recruited Lewis first for water polo - counting on a synchronized swimmer’s ability to stay afloat.

“It was obvious that Christine was a really talented athlete, so we recruited her for water polo first and we used her for goalie,” McCormick said. “She could tread water like crazy.”

Lewis is now doing more than treading water - she’s ripping through it at lightning-fast speeds.

In addition to being ranked No. 1 in the 100-yard breaststroke, she’s second in the 200-yard breaststroke, fourth in the 500-yard freestyle, and a key member of the Bear Cubs’ relay squads.

“I would say it’s kind of really learning how to swim,” she said of her time with the Bear Cubs. “My technique was very synchronized, very floaty, pretty strokes. I’m a pretty swimmer and Jill makes fun of me because I throw in synchro hands.”

“But I’m busting my hump and it’s totally worth it,” she said.

For Lewis and the rest of the Bear Cubs swim and dive team, the test of whether it all was worth it starts Thursday and runs through Saturday.

The women’s team, fresh off its defense of the Big 8 Conference title, walk into East Los Angeles College as the favorites with 11 swimmers and divers qualified. Rival Diablo Valley College, the defending state champs, qualified eight, as did Orange Coast College. Golden West College qualified six. The same four schools battled for supremacy last year.

“It’s a strong group,” Big 8 Conference Coach of the Year McCormick said of her squad. “We are pretty diversified. In order to win a swim meet, you have to have people in lots of different events and you have to have good coverage.”

“This team is good on depth and has three very talented divers and that is something our top three competitors don’t,” she said.

They also have the Big 8 Diver of the Year in Analy graduate Logan Williams.

Still, the Bear Cubs entered last year’s state meet on the heels of a Big 8 Conference title win over Diablo Valley College only to see the Vikings walk out of the swim center as state champs. The Bear Cubs got third.

Sophomore Howell wants more.

“I honestly think we can win state this year,” the Santa Rosa High alum said.

Howell, ranked first in the 100 backstroke and second in the 200 backstroke, said Diablo Valley poses the biggest threat with super-fast swimmers Kelsey Leonard and Laura Woods, but the squad is not as deep at Santa Rosa’s.

“They have two really strong, powerful girls,” Howell said. “They can rack up a lot of points but it comes down to the relays.”

Co-captain Megan Warren agreed.

“Our key races are all of our women’s relays,” she said. “We are like second or first in most of them and they are all by tenths so it is going to be very key to win those.”

Santa Rosa is ranked second behind Diablo Valley in the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 400-yard medley relay, and second behind Orange Coast in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Santa Rosa is ranked fourth in the 800-yard freestyle relay but comes in ranked first in the 200-yard medley relay.

In all but the 800-yard race, Santa Rosa is within slivers of a second of the leaders.

“We have been working on our relay exchanges for the last week,” Warren said.

Warren, an El Molino alum who comes into the meet ranked sixth in both the 500- and 600-yard freestyle races and seventh in the 100-yard freestyle, said this group of Bear Cubs has a title within its grasp.

“We are in line to and I think everyone has the mindset,” she said.

The Bear Cubs have worked all season on their mindset. Now it is time to see what happens in the water.

You can reach Staff Columnist Kerry Benefield at 526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com, on Twitter @benefield and on Instagram at kerry.benefield.