Page 34 - Coffee County

in Buffalo, New York, in March. One by one, every SGC swimmer met or exceeded the national qualifying times in his or her respective event. Each meet brought more exciting news. Before long, everyone saw that the Tigers were going to Buffalo. “For every swimmer to qualify for nationals in the frst year of the program is tremendous,” says Brunel.

In early March, the SGC swim team, along with 20 other teams from across the country, arrived in Buffalo for the

national meet. The meet played out over four days, and on each day, the Tigers showed they deserved to be with the best teams in the nation. On day one, the women were in sixth place with 50 points and the men were tied for seventh. After day two, the women's team was in eighth place and men's team held on to seventh. The men's relay team of Travis Jenkins, Joshua Harrell, T.J. Crossland, and Les Scott fnished ffth in the 200 free relay while the women's team of Stephanie Crews, Kaitlyn Ward, Amanda Bennett, and Christine Postine placed sixth in the 400-medley relay. Individually, Crews earned points with a 14th place fnish in the 200 individual medley and Ward placed 10th in the 50 free.

On the third day, the men's team climbed into sixth place on the strength of several swimmers earning points in their individual events. Travis Jenkins had a podium fnish in the 100-breast stroke for eighth place. T.J. Crossland, Joshua Harrell, and Jad Fussell also

earned points by fnishing in the top 16 in their respective events. These four swimmers also fnished sixth in the 200-medley relay team. Stephanie Crews also earned a spot on the podium with an eighth place in the 400 individual medley while Kaitlyn Ward again fnished in the top 16 in her events. The women's team stayed in eighth place.

The meet came to a close Saturday night and the fnal team scores had the SGC men's team fnishing in sixth place

and women's team earning an eighth place national ranking. The women narrowly missed the seventh spot by just two points. Individually on the fnal day, Stephanie Crews had a ninth place fnish in the 200 fy and Kaitlyn Ward fnished 11th in the 100 free. T.J. Crossland fnished 10th in the 200 back while Colby Herrin followed up right behind with 11th place in the same event. Jad Fussell held on for the 13th spot. Christine Postin also earned points in the 200 back with a 12th place fnish and Paul Poorman fnished 13th in the one-mile distance freestyle.

There wasn’t much time for Jenkins, Horne and the rest of the team to bask in the glow of their accomplishments. In the highly competitive world of intercollegiate athletics, even at the junior college level, everyone has to get started on the next season almost as soon as the previous season ends. Next season, the Tigers have raised the bar. The women’s team did make Academic All America with a GPA of 3.0 or higher

while the men’s team narrowly missed the mark. Both teams also fnished top 10 in the country, meaning that the Tigers met three of their four goals. For the 2011-2012 season, Jenkins wants his teams to have 3.0 GPAs or higher, fnish top fve in the nation, and recruit more swimmers (right now, the team has 19 signed for next season). “This program brings national attention to South Georgia College. We turned some heads and surprised many people. They didn’t think a frst-year program could do what

we did. We gained immediate respect and our student-athletes had some of the best grade point averages on campus,” says Jenkins.

The SGC program should continue to improve. The Stingrays and the Trojans are both doing well. The Stingrays have won seven GRPA district titles in a row and have fnished no worse than ffth in the state; in 2010, they came in second in the state. The Trojans have four region titles in the last two years, and 10-15 kids qualify for state each year. As these teams get better, Jenkins has an opportunity to promote swimming throughout the South Georgia region. In addition, that means even more and better swimmers for the Tigers. “I want to bring notoriety to South Georgia swimmers through the Tigers program. I want this to truly be a South Georgia swim team,” he says.  CCM

“This program brings national attention to South Georgia College. We turned some heads and surprised many people. They didn’t think a frst-year program could do what we did. We gained immediate respect and our student-athletes had some of the best grade

point averages on campus,” says Jenkins.