Sierra Men, SBCC Women Attempt To Defend Titles At 2025 3C2A Swim/Dive Championships

Winners of the last four men's state titles, Sierra College and defending women's champion Santa Barbara City College are looking to repeat at the 76th 3C2A State Swimming and Diving Championships at Santa Rosa Junior College Thursday-Saturday, May 1-3. 

The Sierra men recently collected its eighth straight Big 8 Conference title and are coming of state titles achieved in 2019, 2022, 2023 and last year at Orange Coast College. There were no state meets in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. Mt. San Antonio, third last season, has never won but could challenge as is 2025 runner-up Orange Coast. 

Santa Barbara's women were the second straight first-time champion following following fellow Western State Conference foe Santa Monica's title in 2023. The Vaqueros are poised to defend the title while Orange Coast, the champions in 2018, 2019 and 2022, would love to return to the winner's circle. Mt. San Antonio comes in with a strong contingent.

While the men have competed officially in state meets since 1948 when Fullerton won the first-ever championship, the women began in 1978 with Diablo Valley's first state-sanctioned title. 

2025 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS

MEN--Big 8-Sierra; Coast-De Anza; Central Valley-Sequoias; Orange Empire-Orange Coast; Western State-Cuesta; South Coast-Mt. San Antonio; Pacific Coast Athletic-Grossmont
WOMEN--Big 8-Sierra; Coast-Las Positas; Central Valley-Sequoias; Orange Empire-Orange Coast; Western State-Santa Barbara; South Coast-Mt. San Antonio; Pacific Coast Athletic-Grossmont

Here is an event-by-event look at the 2025 state meet:

Thursday, May 1
Event 1-W-200 Freestyle Relay: Santa Barbara's 1:38.27 is slightly ahead of Mt. San Antonio (1:38.43) pace. Grossmont wants to challenge at 1:39.30. Defending Champ-Orange Coast
Event 2-M-200 Freestyle Relay: This race is up for grabs as American River (1:23.40), Diablo Valley (1:23.50), Riverside City (1:24), Orange Coast (1:24.34), Bakersfield, Mt. SAC and Sierra are all within a 1.5 second margin. Defending Champ-Orange Coast--set state meet record last year at 1:21.26.
Event 3-W-500 Freestyle: SBCC's Lily Carrick and her 5:03.86 is more than 10 seconds faster than the rest of the field. Carrick won the silver last year.
Event 4-M-500 Freestyle: Cuesta's Grant Huston has the top seed at 4:29.69 but defending champ Troy Quintana of Sierra swam 4:30.96 and hopes to repeat.
Event 5-W-200 Individual Medley: Circle this on events to watch list as 2022 silver medalist San Diego Mesa's Sydney Fortune is a favorite at 2:08.08, but will have to fight off defending state champ and Co-State Swimmer of the Year El Camino's Iyanah Samayoa (.47 back) and last year's runner-up Allan Hancock's Noemi Bravo-Guzman (just .13 behind Fortune). 
Event 6-M-200 Individual Medley: Last year's silver finisher American River's Cayden Pitzer has a sizeable lead with a top time of 1:50.02 Mt. SAC's Michael Dibello is next best at 1:51.57.
Event 7-W-50 Freestyle: Defending state champ Grossmont's Camille Seiley has a 23.30 seed and could challenge the state meet record of 23.24 set by DVC's Kimberly Bierwith in 2009.
Event 8-M-50 Freestyle: It's anyone's race as Diablo Valley's Ray Fitch (20.54), Riverside's Yousef Nahali (20.62), Bakersfield's Cody Hart (20.73), Mt. SAC's Ray Chun (20.85), and RCC's Zeke Serrano (20.92) all will compete for the gold.
Event 9-W-400 Medley Relay: Mt. SAC broke a South Coast record to establish the fastest mark at 3:58.62, more than four seconds faster than next best American River and Diablo Valley. Defending Champ-Santa Barbara.
Event 10-M-400 Medley Relay: Riverside's 3:20.57 makes it a favorite with American River (3:22.04) and defending champ Sierra (3:22.49) looking to overtake the Tigers.
Event 11-W-1-Meter Diving: LA Valley and SoCal champion Ciera Center scored 312.25 points, 111 ahead of her nearest South competitor on the lower board and NorCal champ and 2024 state silver medalist Las Positas' Sarah Dorn comes in at 241.90. LPC teammate Ainsley Wade scored 233.35 as her best mark.
Event 12-M-3-Meter Diving: Cypress Niccolo Scornaienghi was the SoCal champ at 311.65 and his competition on the high board includes San Diego Mesa's Dylan McQuade (271.15) and NorCal champ Marin's Ben Lentz (267.55).

Friday, May 2
Event 13-W-200 Medley Relay: Mt. San Antonio has as slight edge at 1:47.98, but San Joaquin Delta (.19 back), Diablo Valley (.20), American River (.21) are all in the hunt. Defending Champ-Santa Barbara.
Event 14-M-200 Medley Relay: Riverside comes in with the top time at 1:30.68, followed by Diablo Valley (1:31.96), Mt. SAC (1:32.18), ARC (1:32.46) and defending champ Orange Coast (1:32.87). 
Event 15-W-400 Individual Medley: Defending champ Carrick set the meet record last year at 4:29.59 and silver medalist Bravo-Guzman along with Fortune should follow her in the top 3 places.
Event 16-M-400 Individual Medley: Golden West's Jake Kiss has a large advantage in his seed time at 4:02.60 with DVC's Daniel Lewis (4:07.22) the next best.
Event 17-W-100 Butterly: American River's Caitlin Wham has the top seed at 55.66 while last year's silver finisher Mt. SAC's Elleanna Ramos (57.65) and Santa Rosa's Tori Creaves (fourth in 2024) hope to challenge.
Event 18-M-100 Butterfly: ARC's David Tsypan (47.84) expects competiton in Fitch, Serrano, Ventura's Jaiden Monroe and defending state champ Sierra's Genoa Nixon (last year 49.51). Last season's silver medalist Orange Coast's Ryan Xu also could push the leaders.
Event 19-W-200 Freestyle: 2024's second place finisher Santa Barbara's Maddie Myers (1:53.90) has the top seed but Seiley (1:54.79, seventh a year ago) and Mt. SAC's Carolyn Kao hope to put the pressure on.
Event 20-M-200 Freestyle: Huston rolls in with the top mark at 1:38.09 but defending champ Quintana (1:38.08 winning time) and silver medalist Hart figure to make this a great race.
Event 21-W-100 Breaststroke: Defending champ Samayoa holds the top seed at 1:04.59 (won last year at 1:04.09) while the silver finisher SRJC's Madeleine West and De Anza's Joyce Lin are looking for an upset.
Event 22-M-100 Breaststroke: Pitzer settled for second last year and has a 55.17 to pace all this season while Riverside's Jared Ladinez (55.42), Ohlone's Ray Cillo (56.12), Chun (56.24) and Pasadena City's Michael Petersen (56.43) all could make this a thrilling finish.
Event 23-W-100 Backstroke: Yet another silver medalist is back in American River's Mia Verwoest, who owns the top seed (58.04) while she will be tested by Lin (58.34), Mt. SAC's Paige Fast (59.17) and Ventura's Olivia Badaracco (59.29) 
Event 24-M-100 Backstroke: Tsypan's 49 flat leads the way here, followed by Monroe (49.89) and Dibello (50.11).
Event 25-W-800 Freestyle Relay: San Diego Mesa (8:03.77) has a slight edge over Sierra (.20 behind), then ARC (8:05.45). Defending Champ-Santa Barbara. 
Event 26-M-800 Freestyle Relay: Sierra is back to defend the long relay title and the Wolverines have a similar 5-second advantage that it had last year over next fastest squad American River.
Event 27-W-3 Meter Diving: Center (328.30) has a chance to be a double state champ with a win in the high board with Orange Coast's Madeline Kwok (216.60) and Dorn (fifth last year) looking for a top 3 placing. 
Event 28-M-1 Meter Diving: Like Center, Scornaienghi also is attempting to sweep the dive golds as his 348 point total coming on the lower board is ahead of Lentz (300.85) and Riverside's Zachary McDonald (292.35). 

Saturday, May 3
Event 29-W-1,650 Freestyle: After El Camino phenom Mia Park shattered the state meet record last year at 17:04.63, expect Carrick (17:58.97) and Sierra's Jane Lubiens (18:04.14) to battle it out for the mile gold this year.
Event 30-M-1,650 Freestyle: Mt. San Antonio's Jack Painton set the top seed at 15:59.91, but he will be up against it with Quintana (bronze last year at 15:58) and Golden West's Ryan Novak (16:02.82) challenging hard in what could come down to the final 50.
Event 31-W-100 Individual Medley: For the first time since 2014, this event returns to the state meet event lineup. This could be a 3-women battle to the wall as Lin (60.01), Mt. SAC's Spencer Damaske (60.02) and West (60.72) all lead a talented field.
Event 32-M-100 Individual Medley: The men are getting in on the act as well in this added featured event with Serrano (50.90), Lim (51 flat), and Dibello (51.60) also part of a tight field as the gold could be snatched by anyone.
Event 33-W-200 Backstroke: Bravo-Guzman looks to be a repeat state champ (2:02.88 last season) while Fast is her closest competitor (2:05.88 seed).
Event 34-M-200 Backstroke: Tsypan had by far the best seed time at 1:46.88 with Monroe (1:52.10) and Sierra's Tyler Nattrass (1:52.86, bronze last year) hoping to keep pace. 
Event 35-W-100 Freestyle: Defending state champ Myers and second-place Seiley (top seed this year at 50.66) are back with Wham and Kao also stiff competition in an expected decision at the wall.
Event 36-M-100 Freestyle: Huston has three top seeds overall including 44.79 here, but Hart (45.07), Fitch (45.37), Nahali (bronze last year), and Chun will once again make the event a fierce drive to the finish.
Event 37-W-200 Breaststroke: Defending champ Samayoa (2:19.05 top seed) and Fortune (won silver in '22, 2:20.01) will be stroke for stroke to the wall while West (bronze last year) and Saddleback's Julia Reid will look to keep pace.
Event 38-M-200 Breaststroke: Pitzer's 2:02.10 is the top seed (he took third last season), but Sierra's Michael Hansen (silver last year) and Petersen will no doubt make this a thriller. 
Event 39-W-200 Butterfly: After winning the silver last year, Ramos is poised to grab the gold as she has a 2:06.04 top mark coming with Grossmont's Maya Garcia-Hale a distant second best (2:10.80).
Event 40-M-200 Butterfly: The returning pedigree here is solid as 2024 silver medalist Long Beach's Nathan D'Aloisio (1:50.49 seed), Nixon (bronze), and Li (fifth) will set the pace. 
Event 41-W-400 Freestyle Relay: Defending state champ Santa Barbara (3:34.01) has a small lead on Mt. SAC (3:34.11) with American River and SD Mesa next best. 
Event 42-M-400 Freestyle Relay: Sierra has the fastest incoming mark at 3:04.66, followed by American River (3:05.39), Mt. SAC (3:06.37), defending champ Orange Coast (3:06.41) and Diablo Valley (3:06.65). To pick a winner requires a crystal ball.

Release by Robert Lewis, CCCSIA/3C2A event writer