Golden West College Sweeps the 2013 Men's and Women's Swimming State Championships

LOS ANGELES - A year after its Orange Empire Conference foe Orange Coast performed the feat, Golden West College pulled a double team championship victory at the 2013 CCCAA Swimming and Diving State Championships. 

The Rustlers' women scored a sweep of all five relay events, including three state meet records capped by the 400-yard freestyle relay finale. The Golden West women captured their first state title since 2001 and fourth in the college's swim history. The 2013 state meet produced seven state records overall in the women's competition. In all, the Rustlers scored eight event victories, including two on Saturday by Lauren Vosseler in the 100 backstroke and 100 freestyle.

The GWC men were led by four event victories, including two by Ian Wheeler, who captured the 1,650-yard freestyle and 500 freestyle titles. The Rustlers also won the 800 freestyle relay. 

The Rustlers won their first men's title since 2004 and 12th in their history. Golden West head coach and State Women's Coach of the Year Mark Schubert talked about winning the double.

"When it came to the women, I told them in a meeting before the season that they had the ability to win a state title," a soaked Schubert said after joining his teams in a celebration dive into the pool, "and they said 'we don't want to even think about that, let's just win conference first.' Well, I knew we had four tremendous sprinters. 

"They gained confidence last year, and then they just performed so well here at state. Lauren Vosseler was a leader for us, and it was just amazing to see her win three events back-to-back-to-back (one relay)."

On the men, Schubert said, "We had a group of water polo players who happened to be great swimmers. I can't say enough about the way Fletcher Norseen helped us on relays with his speed. Ian Wheeler showed his endurance in winning the long freestyles. My assistant coaches, Scott Taylor, Kyle Kopp and Danny Johnson were there for our swimmers all season and were a big help to me, so I could devote more time to coaching from the pool deck."

Palomar finished a surprising state runner-up in the men's standings while Diablo Valley was the women's runner-up.