M Swim: Rustler Swimmers Shine at State Championships

Los Angeles, Calif. - The Golden West College Men's swim team sent a contingent of seven swimmers to East Los Angeles Swim Stadium May 4-6 to compete in the 3C2A State Championships. For the second time in two years, the Rustlers finished in the top six of the team standings.

Day One Highlights: The finals started off with Golden West finishing sixth in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Tommy Kelly led off with a 21.55, Keiden Sutanto sped to a 20.90, Eamon Hennessey added in a 21.31 split and Thomas Woodley anchored with a 21.75 leg as the team took off half a second from its entry time to finish in 1:25.51. Freshman Nolan Chomin squeaked into the championship final of the 500 free (4:39.68) but added the valuable 11 points for the eighth-place finish. Fellow freshman Kelly dropped time in both the prelims and the finals to record his best time of 1:54.60 in the 200 individual medley good for eleventh place. The top eight swimmers advanced to the championship heat where sophomore Srboljub Filipovic finished fifth overall with a 1:52.56 in the same event. Golden West completed the day with a fifth-place finish in the 400-medley relay with the quartet of Hennessey, Filipovic, Sutanto and Kelly coming in at 3:28.81, a drop of over two seconds from its time at the conference finals.

Day Two Action: The 200-medley relay was the first event of finals on Friday. The Rustlers won the consolation final earning 18 points with the foursome of Hennessey, Filipovic, Sutanto and Woodley sped to a 1:35.51 time dropping a second and a half from their morning swim. Tommy Kelly had perhaps the individual swim of the meet twice as he dropped four seconds in the 400 IM prelims and another three seconds in the finals for a 4:04.21 fourth place finish and the fastest freshman in the state in that event. Keiden Sutanto popped a 50.85 in the 100 fly to finish 11th in the event. Nolan Chomin was very consistent with a 1:45.72 200 free to get a 13th place finish. The top individual finish was the successful defense of Filipovic's 100 breaststroke title as he was the only swimmer to dip below 56 seconds, recording a 55.90. It is very difficult to win the same event two years in a row, but it was a dominating performance as he led from start to finish. The night session ended with the grueling 800 free relay; the only relay not contested in the prelims. The Rustlers were ready as Kelly led off with a team best mark of 1:43.39 to put the eighth seeded group into fourth place. Second swimmer Chomin put in his third 200 free race of the day, churning a 1:44.85 to keep them in fifth overall. Sutanto sped to a 1:48.16 leg as the race tightened up. Anchor swimmer sophomore Nico D'Angelo swam another smartly paced leg swimming his part in 1:47.86. The total time of 7:04.22 was good for the 26 points earned with a sixth-place finish.

Day Three: The finals started off with the last heat of the 1650 freestyle and Nolan Chomin dropped three seconds to finish fourth overall in 16:09.21. Filipovic came in third in the 200-breaststroke with a 2:03.41, just a shade slower than his 2:02.70 prelim swim. The final individual scoring event for the Rustlers was the 200-butterfly where Sutanto gained valuable points by placing eighth in the prelims and holding the spot in the finals after going 1:57.64 for his best time of the day. Golden West completed their scoring with a thrilling 400 free relay result recording a time of 3:08.73. The team of Kelly (46.27), Sutanto (47.77), Hennessey (47.83) and Filipovic (46.86) finished 10th overall yet recorded the sixth fastest time of the day, going faster than four of the teams in the championship finals.

Final Top Ten Men's' Team Scores: Sierra 712, Orange Coast 502, Mt. Sac 316.5, Las Positas 281.5, Palomar 237, GOLDEN WEST 232, Cuesta 207, College of the Sequoias 188, West Valley 185, Riverside 155.