Swim Teams Make A Splash

REDLANDS>> Starting this year, Crafton Hills College students will have the chance to show off their skills in the pool. Under the auspices of San Bernardino Valley College Athletics, CHC introduced its new athletics program in the fall of 2016 with women's golf. Competing in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference (PCAC), CHC is introducing men and women’s swimming this spring and will launch men's and women's tennis in spring 2018, men's and women's water polo in fall 2018 and men's golf in spring 2019. The swim teams will compete in Crafton’s Olympics-trial pool at its state-of-the-art Aquatics Center. As the team, they will be coached by Courtney Eads. Eads has coached professionally for six years with Claremont High School and Claremont McKenna-Harvey Mudd-Scripps College, and began swimming competitively at age five. "I am most excited about getting the Crafton Hills swim program up and running this season and being able to develop the program year after year," Eads said. "I'm also excited to develop the incoming team members and see what we can do. It's pretty awesome that I get the opportunity to develop a swim program at the 2004 Olympic Trials pool that I competed in. I feel very connected to the Crafton pool and am eager to see some fast swimming." The first home meet for Crafton was Friday, March 3 at 2 p.m. The swimmers who have participated in Eads' off-season class and committed to swimming on the team "have made tremendous progress in a very short time," the coach said. "I am looking forward to the amount of potential that they will unlock along the way." Eads said she expects the season will be "full of opportunities to fine tune the program into what it has the potential to become," and is looking forward to getting the community excited about Roadrunner swimming. She said she believes it's important for Crafton to develop an athletics program as a way to increase school pride and give students a chance to continue playing the sports they were active in during high school. "Sports is a good way to make new friends and build lasting relationships," she said. "Athletics teaches students skills that they can carry throughout their lives such as teamwork, dedication, time management and accountability. Athletics can also serve as a way of getting students to be involved in a more healthy and active lifestyle."