Tan first state champ for CSM in nearly 50 years
Nothing could wipe away the smile from Kawei Tan's face. Not after College of San Mateo freshman ended a nearly five-decade drought with a state title at the California community college swimming and diving championships on Friday at East Los Angeles College.
And certainly not with his parents watching on the Livestream from their home.
"The cameras zoomed in on my face, and my dad told me to look at the camera when I got the ribbon, or the award, and I did with a big smile on my face," Tan said. "And my whole family cheered with me back at home."
Tan touched the wall in the 100-yard backstroke in 49.86 seconds, more than a second ahead of the runner-up.
The last individual title by a Bulldog came in 1966, when Don Gray won the 50 free.
That's a bit of trivia that CSM coach Randy Wright researched after the morning preliminaries -- after he saw something in his swimmer's eyes.
"You just saw that look," Wright said. "He had the look like he believed that this was going to happen. And sure enough."
Wright resurrected the aquatics program at CSM after it had remained dormant for 22 years. In his 11 years, there were close calls, with swimmers coming in second or third.
But never first.
And the way the coach embraced his state champion, it showed.
"That was our first one," Wright said. "And low and behold, the first one since '66, we enjoyed the moment. And it was appreciated by many coaches to see that kind of jubilation exists in this sport. It was tremendous. It was something I won't forget. You never forget the first one. I know it's something that Kawei won't forget. That's what it's all about."
The coach of the champ hands out the medal. That's another moment Wright won't forget.
"The big four schools, for instance, like Golden West, Orange Coast College, Santa Rosa and DVC, they win a lot of races every year," Wright said. "And, you know, when you've been there, you've done that, it becomes a lot easier to hand out those medals. But I was a little shaky handing them out. There was a little juice running through my veins and I'm just the coach. It just shows how much I value the moment."
CSM came in with a game plan to turn Tan into a state champ.
On Day 1, the 18-year-old set a personal best in the 200 individual medley prelims. But he finished last in the finals by design.
"Kawei is realistic and he knows," Wright said. "And he was a little surprised that a swim coach would tell him not to go 100 percent all the time. ... And I didn't want a fourth-place finish in the 200 IM to negatively affect his chances to race and win. We didn't sandbag, but that was the goal for Thursday."
"I thought it was the perfect decision to make," Tan said.
Fresh for Friday's swims, Tan had the fastest time in the prelims by more than a second.
As a senior at Burlingame at the 2013 Central Coast Section championships, Tan swam 52.15 to claim fifth in the 100 back. A year later, he shaved two seconds off his time to become a state champion.
"That's as fast as I've ever seen Kawei swim backstroke," Wright said.
"On the last lap, I could see everyone about a second behind me," Tan said. "And then I was just yelling inside my head, I told myself, 'I'm state champion, I'm state champion, I'm state champion,' as I reach for the wall."
Tan was the top seed in Saturday's 200 back and led at the midway point. This time he had to settle for runner-up.
"He said he needed air," Wright said. "It's a scary feeling, you want to go but you gotta come up. And he forced his exits and came out too steep, losing speed. It turned into a surface race and Kawei is not the fastest on the surface. He's definitely the fastest if he's using his under waters."
CSM brought four athletes on its van to East Los Angeles.
Josh Yeager claimed a medal in the same race that Tan won as he finished eighth in the 200 back.
Erin Harris placed sixth on the women's 3-meter board.
Travis Russo, who entered as the 10th seed, was a surprise bronze medalist on the 3-meter board. Russo only began to dive in January.
"They got my heartbeat in different ways," Wright said. "Kawei was exciting. You saw the build-up, you knew he had a chance, you were just waiting for the moment. Travis just blew me away. It's not excitement, it was just pure shock."
All four returned home as All-Americans.
"There were no broken hearts," Wright said. "Everybody was happy. It was a great van ride."
http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula-sports/ci_25703571/tan-first-state-champ-csm-nearly-50-years