Fresno City College swimmers made waves during the California Community College Athletic Association Swim and Dive State Championships April 17 through 19, each breaking FCC records and placing first in their events.
Freshman Natalie Mares, a pre-allied health major from Selma, swam 40 laps of freestyle, beating the previous record for the 1,000 yard freestyle by roughly 25 seconds.
“I really didn’t expect it,” Mares said. “I just wanted to go out there and try my best. Once I hit the wall and looked up, I saw my teammates screaming and I just started crying. It was surreal.”
Despite a tough start to the championships, Mares dropped significant time during the finals on the third day.
“I hadn’t done good my first day, so I didn’t expect to win,” Mares said. “I ended up dropping about forty seconds in that event.”
Mares credits head swim and dive coach Hillary Boos for pushing her to tackle longer distances.
“In high school, I was a distance swimmer, but I didn’t even know about the mile as an event,” Mares said. “She introduced me to it and helped me train for it.”
Mares had known about the previous record time but didn’t believe she would come close.
“At the beginning of the season, my time was so far from the record,” Mares said. “I didn’t think I would break it at all.”
Mares finished the mile with a time of 20:27:72, significantly faster than her season opening performances.
Joining Mares in the record books is Mia Coleman, a business management major who broke the school record in the 400 yard Individual Medley, an event that tests a swimmer’s ability in all four strokes, butterfly backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. Coleman not only broke the record which hadn’t been touched in eight years but she also took first place during the day two finals of the meet.
“I didn’t even know I broke the record at first,” Coleman said. “I just wanted to win the race. When I touched the wall, I looked up and saw my coach jumping up and down, and that’s when I knew I did something special.”
Coleman said her preparation for the 400 IM was more mental than physical, relying on focus and motivation from her coach and teammates to be calm before the race.
“I was just smiling behind the blocks, telling myself I could do this,” Coleman said.
Boos said she was thrilled by both performances.
“We were all super excited,” Boos said. “They both got first in their events, and at first it was just about winning. Then realizing they broke the records, yeah, that was huge.”
Boos emphasized the consistent effort behind their success. “They just had to give 100% at practice every day,” Boos said. “They dropped so much time in both events just because they were getting better as the season went on.”
Mares and Colman’s performances reflect not only individual growth, but also the culture of resilience Boos has helped foster. “I push them hard, but we try to have fun too so the kids want to be there and work hard,” Boos said.
Breaking records isn’t just a personal achievement, it’s also setting a new bar for the program. “Kids are gonna have to work even that much harder to beat these faster times,” Boos said.
For Mares and Coleman, the record breaking swims were more than personal victories. They were milestones in a season marked by perseverance, support, and team spirit.
