Delta College’s men’s and women’s swim and dive teams hosted the Delta Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 17.
Even with weather conditions being less than favorable – with wind and heavy rain – the teams managed to finish in first place in the overall invitational.
During a fundraiser the following day for the swim team at Stockton Elk’s Lodge where the team provides services to ongoing events, Head Coach Mike Maroney had some insight on the prior day’s win.
Maroney noted improvements.
“Yes absolutely we have a ton of depth, our freshmen class is outstanding in the water, we had some mid-year transfers come into Delta College and their swimming straight away and they were a little out of shape but there’s ton of potential there so we’re really excited, on both squads for our prospects of the year,” he said.
Inclement weather was part of the invitational.
“I think that always does I think one thing I try and instill in our athletes is that it doesn’t matter what our competition is, it doesn’t matter what pool you’re at or what the weather’s like you have a set focus, you have a routine you follow; that when other people complain that’s just another opportunity for you to step up and have a leg up on them so we really try to take that mentality that approach to foul weather and it seemed to work,” he said.
Some of the winning events included the distance free event were Shelby Stephens finished first scoring 49 points while Cody Wickman also scored 49 points for Delta.
Stephens said she was satisfied with her score.
“Last year I scored a lot less than that I wasn’t able to win the mile or the 500 or do as well as I did this year but I was able to get enough points to become the champion which was really nice because that’s something I really wanted,” she said.
Anna Ramos took home a victory in the back event scoring 52 points for Delta. Ramos said the results “felt good” because she hasn’t swam for a couple years.
In diving, Brittney Smith scored 88.80 points, winning the event for Delta.
Smith said the weather conditions made her first time a “pretty big challenge.”
The Delta College swim and dive team has its next meet against Sierra College in Rocklin on Friday, Feb. 24 at 3:30 p.m.
