The Santa Rosa Junior College men and women’s swim team powered through rain and cold weather to win big at the Los Rios Invite in Sacramento City College on Feb. 24.
“It’s a lot harder to stay cool and motivated when your feet are numb and they start burning when you get in the water,” said freshman Stassi Holzhauer.
The women placed first six times while also winning two relays. Sophomore Ruby Gonzalez won the 200 free (2:02.43), sophomore Ashley Simmons won the 200 breast (2:44.49) and the 100 breast (1:15.54) and Holzhauer won the 500 free (5:31.89), 200 IM (2:18.14) and 100 Fly (1:01.84).
Holzhauer’s performance did not go unnoticed, “She pulled a hat trick; that’s very impressive,” said head coach Jill McCormick.
The men collected two first-place finishes. Freshman Greyson McCaw finished the 500 free in first place with a time of 5:06.88, and freshman Andrew Morris managed to beat his previous record in 200 Back (1:58.64).
“People did pretty well. We had some breakthrough swims and we had some people do some lifetime bests,” McCormick said. “It was quite intense as far as the elements go. It was on the verge of snowing and we were outdoors.”
McCormick said before the meet she talked to her team about the mental toughness needed to compete in these conditions and how it would play a factor in the meet, “If you’ve got mental toughness you’re going to be a good student, you’re going to be a good person, you’re going to be a good athlete,” McCormick said.
The team is looking ahead at the Cuesta Invite in San Luis Obispo on March 10-11. “We have pretty high expectations going into the Cuesta Invitational in two weeks,” McCormick said. “We have been talking about that since August.”
