Posted: May 13, 2015 | Written by Laura Tapia
Winning several individual competitions the Tiger’s swim team competed in its last meet of the season at State Championships at East Los Angeles College from April 30 to May 2.
Although the men’s swim team finished just one point shy of American River College who finished fourth, they ended their season with 265 points at State.
The women’s team was ranked 18 with 54 points; however, both teams had strong individual performances.
The Tigers were loaded with record setting swimmer, Adrien Deloffre and the women’s diver of the year, Emily Dunkerson.
Deloffre was one of the individual winners finishing first in the 200 breaststroke event for the Tigers with a time of 2:05.31.
Deloffre’s win made him the first Riverside City College men’s state swimming champion in over a decade, according to men’s coach Jason Northcott.
Freshmen swimmer Deloffre was a surprise addition to the team.
“He kind of fell into our laps … what happened was I got an email from Adrien because his friend was coming to play tennis here and he was looking to come along and asked about the swimming team, I gave him the information and he pretty much set up everything as far as housing and everything else, and he said ‘I’m coming’, ” Northcott said.
“He’s a great talent and he really pushes the guys and it was the first time I was able to hand out medals at State Championships. He got to come up and I got (the chance) to give him a little hug and tell him I was proud of him. I’m excited to have another year with him.”
Another individual winner was Dunkerson, who received first place in the women’s 3-meter diving event with a score of 235, she also received second place in the women’s 1-meter diving event with a score of 201.65.
“I’m really proud of her, it’s difficult especially since she’s a freshmen … her top competition was sophomores and hadn’t had a chance to dive in that pool and be in the State Championships before, so for her to come in as a Freshmen and dive on that kind of pressure and that kind of meet, and to still perform as well as she did, I’m really proud of what she accomplished,” women’s head coach Doug Finfrock said.
In a third place finish, the Riverside 800-yard freestyle relay team broke a school record by nine seconds, coming in at a time of 6:48.53.
The relay team consisted of Deloffre, Justin Rohn, Brandon Seay and Garret Shimko most of whom have teamed up in relays before.
While most of the Tiger swimmers will be coming back next year, sophomore Brandon Seay will be graduating from RCC according to Northcott.
Northcott has high expectations for next season’s team noting he wants to keep this year,s momentum going.
“With the type of quality individuals that we got this year, I definitely want to look for the type of character of athlete that we have this year, so I kind of know what I would like to see out of an athlete when I recruit,” Northcott said.
Previously in Conference Championships the men’s team won second place with 661.50 points and the women’s team came in third place with 508 points.
