Contact: Head Coach Mike Ashmore Phone: (805) 928-9655 May 17, 2008      Santa Maria Swim Club opens doors to summer swim season   SANTA MARIA - The Central Coast's premier competitive swim team will open the summer swim season with two programs designed with even the youngest swimmers in mind. AquaCubs and AquaBears provide age-appropriate, skills-based instruction for aspiring competitors and recreational swimmers alike. Both programs kick off June 17 with the summer season wrapping up July 24. AquaCubs is a pre-competition swim program designed for children ages...

  (Santa Maria) - SMSC continues to garner accolades for a variety of accomplishments. The club was recently named a 2008 USA Swimming Bronze medal team, placing them in the Top 200 in the Nation, a claim no other local club can make. Today, USA Swimming handed out another accolade - Level 2 Club Recognition. The award is part two of a 4 tier system in USA Swimming, recognizing those teams that operate, perform and coach at the highest levels. SMSC completed Level I back in February. Level 2 was...

  (Santa Clara) - The 45th Annual Santa Clara International Invitational kicked off with several events on Thursday. American and foreign swimming stars abound as the charge to the Olympic Games begins in earnest. Natalie Coughlin broke the American Record in the 100m Freestyle, while Michael Phelp's broke the meet record (his own) in the 400 IM. For Santa Maria, Rachael Wahl made her 2nd Olympic Trials event of the year, swimming the 100 Butterfly in 1:01.80 in Prelims and qualifying 24th for the Finals. This was over a second...

  Congratulations to SJHS sophomore Maddie Mastrup who set a new school record in the 500-yard freestyle Tuesday while competing at CIF Masters Championships in Long Beach. This was Maddie’s third trip to Long Beach over the course of the past week to compete for her school. She and her teammates traveled south twice last week for CIF Division IV Prelims Tuesday and CIF Division IV finals Thursday. CIF Masters combines in a single meet the best athletes from all four divisions of CIF Southern Section swimming, bringing together the...

  (Long Beach) - Two SMSC High Performance athletes managed to make it into the Elite 24 for the CIF Masters Championships. The meet takes the best 24 in each event across all of Southern California for a final high school swimming championship, exclusive of divisions. Rebekah Corbin qualified out of the Division III 200 IM after a 2nd place finish in the event. Maddie Mastrup qualified out of the Division IV 500 Free after a 2nd place finish in the event.

  (Long Beach) - Casey Bateman, RC Corbin and Julie Hendrick swam into the final session at the CIF Division 3 Finals, this past Saturday evening. Bateman, swimming for RHS, managed best times in both the 200 and 500, finishing 6th and 3rd, respectively. RC Corbin managed 2nd in the 200IM and 8th in the 100 Fly. Julie Hendrick represented well in the Consolation final of the 100 Breaststroke.  Lanessa Horton-Scott, representing SMHS, finished 12th in the 100 Freestyle. Congratulations.  

  (Long Beach) - Many SMSC swimmers finished out their high school seasons at the CIF Division 4 Swimming and Diving Championships on Thursday evening. Karen Hollinshead managed two Consolation final heat wins in the 200 IM and 100 Back in life-time best swims.  While fellow SMHS teammate Lanessa Horton-Scott anchored the Consols 200 Medley Relay. Jeremiah Palmerston swam to a 5th place finish in the 200 IM and 8th place in the 100 Free, both personal bests. Erica Brannon moved up considerably in the 100 Fly and 100 Back...

  (Long Beach) - Several SMSC athletes made the leap from prelims to Finals on Tuesday evening at the CIF Southern Section Division 4 prelims. Multiple athletes representing Santa Ynez, Santa Maria and St. Joseph's High Schools were competing and earned the chance at Thursday evening's finals. Maddie Mastrup moved up in the 200 Free and 500 Free, qualifying 4th and 1st respectively. Erica Brannon moved into Finals in the 100 Butterfly and 100 Backstroke. (8th and 5th) Jeremiah Palmerston managed 8th and 6th place qualifications in the 200IM and...

  I was HIGHLY impressed by how well our kids did on Saturday and Sunday. Specifically what stood out was the tenacity that the Gold and Presenior kids raced with. No one ever gave up. They were always in the race to the very last meter. I even saw one Presenior decide not to breathe the last 15 meters of the 200m Freestyle to try to win the heat! Awesome! High Performance Group - My swimmers of the meet include Rebekah Corbin. "RC" is in the middle of high school...

  (San Luis Obispo, CA) - The Santa Maria Swim Club age group teams got off to a great start to the 2008 Long Course season at the PUMA Spring opener, held on Sunday in San Luis Obispo. SMSC had too many heat winners to name, but all coaches were extremely pleased with how well SMSC athletes prepared and raced at the one day meet. "This is a great start on our run towards Summer JO’s and beyond," said Presenior Coach Steve Lougee. Swimmer of the Meet honors in the...