The American River College swim program hosted its first-ever alumni meet Feb. 21. The current ARC swim team members faced off against those who came before them in a 14-event meet that was as light-hearted as it was heated. Although no official winner was named in the unofficial event, the current ARC team displayed competitive times in their respective heats.

“The program won.” Eric Black, the swim coach at ARC said with a proud smile. “It was a lot of fun.”

With Black’s wife and co-coach, Bethani Black, having been part of the swim program since 1998, Eric Black said the alumni who came represented classes from 1992-2024. He said he has known some of the alumni who showed up to the meet for 30 years, some of whom had driven up from Southern California the night before just to compete. 

The event held a sizable crowd for the space it was in, between the current team’s 29 active members and the 57 alumni who attended as well as hosting nearly-full bleachers of friends or family of both. Many alumni came to visit with their old coaches and teammates during the event to watch or cheer on the competitors. Shouts of encouragement and heckling filled the air with each heat and event from beginning to end, lending a feeling of camaraderie between the groups.

“This way, I’ll win,” one alumnus swimmer playfully proclaimed to one of his hecklers as his swimming fins slapped down the pool deck to the starting block. 

With energy high and competition tight, the times for the heats were still impressive with some ending at times of 22-23 seconds. Most competitions lasted less than a minute as competitors gave it their all despite the in-house and limited rules nature of the meet.

Black said he’s aiming to hold an annual alumni event going forward.

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