The spring 2022 swim season has commenced as COVID-19 mandates have slowly lifted throughout the state of California and students have returned to campus. 

The American River College women’s swimming and diving team, coached by Bethani Black, worked hard during practices before competing in its first relay on Feb.9. 

The team competed in 11 events for the 2022 Northern CA Community College Relays. The team came in second place altogether with 120 points in relay events such as the 1-meter and 3-meter diving, yard freestyle, yard medley, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly. 

“That is the biggest thing, covid really gave us a renewed appreciation for the opportunity to be out here,” Black said in an interview. “We also have a pretty good size team so it makes training fun.”

The team currently has 20 student-athletes, including three that do both diving and swimming, two that only do diving and the rest that do swimming. 

The Big 8 Conference Swim Championship events will be held at ARC from April 21-23. Two weeks later the team will continue on to the State Championships held at East Los Angeles College to finish out the season. 

To attend the conference in April at the ARC campus, admission is $8 for students and staff or $12 for general admission. The event will be held at the pool area located in between the main gym and the physical education building. 

Black added that previous events that host schools from all over the state are a good preview for what is expected to qualify for the state championships. 

For any ARC students wanting to try out for the team next season, email Black for details and what to expect. Training is held all fall semester and swim season starts in January for the spring semester.