SRJC women win state swimming title

Fueled by the exploits of freshman Heather Cramer and tremendous depth, the Santa Rosa Junior College women's swimming team overwhelmed the field Saturday at the California Community College Swimming and Diving Chmapionships in Mission Viejo and captured the program's third state title since 2004.

The Bear Cubs finished the three-day event with 450.5 points. Sierra placed second with 363.5.

In addition, the SRJC men's team finished third, the second-highest finish in school history, despite never winning an event. The Bear Cubs finished third with 421 points. Diablo Valley won with 488 points.

Saturday capped a historic season for both programs, which combined to break 10 school records and sent a record 34 athletes to state. And the future could be even brighter -- 25 of SRJC's state qualifiers are freshmen.

Bear Cubs coach Jill McCormick, who leads both programs, was named co-Coach of the Year with Santa Ana's John Wright.

"I definitely think there is something to Santa Rosa JC and its aquatics program," McCormick said. "It's unique to have the same head coach for the men and the women. We all train together and it makes for a great co-ed experience. A lot of programs train separately, but our team is so tight."

Cramer (Rancho Cotate) finished third in the 100 butterfly to cap a memorable meet. Cramer also had two runner-up finishes in individual events and swam on the state-winning 400 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay teams. Allie King placed fourth in the 100 free.

On the men's side, freshman Erik Pfieffer broke a school record en route to a second-place finish of 16:07.91 in the 1,650 freestyle. Freshman Walter Gault broke his own school record and finished third in the 200 breastroke (2:05.75).

SRU SOCCER

Santa Rosa United Thunder's dream of winning the girls U15 California Youth Soccer Association North State Cup title ended in Morgan Hill Saturday when it fell to Foothill MVLA Avalanche, 4-1.

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SRJC TENNIS

K.C. Ensley and Michael Fischer of Santa Rosa JC won the NorCal doubles men's tennis championships at De Anza College in Cupertino.

Ensley and Fischer defeated American River's John Spoerl and Rusty White, 7-6 (7-3 tiebreaker), 6-3. Ensley lost in the singles semifinals to Fresno's Nicco Ernst, 6-4, 6-3.