Posted By Press Democrat Staff Writer Michael Coit:

Set for another strong season, the Santa Rosa Junior College swimming teams stroked to some impressive wins in a pair of early meets.
Santa Rosa’s men broke a pair of longstanding records in winning 11 of 12 events at the NorCal Relays Invitational hosted by the Bear Cubs on Saturday.
Swimmers Sean Malley (Campolindo), John Bing (Roseburg, Ore.), Trent Wiliams (Terra Linda), and Alex Xu ( Casa Grande) went 1:37.56 in the 200 Medley, breaking the record formally set by Diablo Valley in 1986. The same four swimmers went 1:27.67 in the 200 Free Relay, breaking the record formally set by West Valley in 1981.
The Bear Cubs women’s team finished a close second behind conference rival Sierra College in the final standings at the relays. Also competing were teams from Merced, American River, Ohlone, Las Positas, and College of the Sequoias.
A day earlier, both Santa Rosa teams and the Bear Cubs divers handled College of the Sequoias, Merced and Shasta in a quad meet.
Both the Santa Rosa men and women are coming off third place finishes at the state meet a year ago. The men won the Big 8 Conference title last season, their third league championship in four years.
The Santa Rosa women have won four of California Community College Athletic Association titles in the past eight years. The current squad is led by returning All Americans Jessica Crawford from Brentwood and Becky Bennigson from Benicia. Notable newcomers include freshmen Alexandria Holland, Codie Cox and Meghan O’Rourke from Santa Rosa, as well as Kayla Strand form Chico.