Six League championships in Seven years and FIVE IN A ROW! The tradition continues!

The 2012 Lady Blue Devils continued to dominate the Bay Valley Conference with a 562 point margin of victory over runner-up Shasta College. The Devils also finished the dual meet season with a 5-1 record. Over the last nine years Merced has an overall dual meet record of 62-12. Three dual meet wins were over Valley teams Modesto, COS, and delta.

The Lady Devils won 7 individual titles and four relays at the League Championships. Bay Valley Conference champions were: Katie Elam (500 Free, 200 Free, and 50 Fly), Mallory Howard (50 Free and 100 Free), Erika Jones (1650 Free), Emily Heindel (100 Fly), and Jessica Witt (200 I.M.). These swimmers also combined to win the 200, 400, 800 Free Relays and the 200 Medley Relay. Katie Elam was named the Bay Valley Conference Swimmer of the Year for the second year in a row.

At the State meet the Lady Devils qualified in six individual events and four relays. State qualifiers were Jessica Witt, Erika Jones, Katie Elam, and Mallory Howard. New school records were set by Howard in the 50 Free (24.35), 4th place in the 100 Free (53.11), and 5th place in the 50 Breast (31.15). Katie Elam broke records and placed 5th in the 200 Free (1:55.51), and 2nd in the 50 Fly (25.96). The 400 Free Relay composed of Elam, Howard, Erika Jones, and Melinda Ricketts set the new school mark of 3:42.36, placing 8th at the State meet.

Because of these outstanding swims Katie Elam and Mallory Howard were named Community College All-Americans in five (Mallory 3 and Katie 2) individual events. The 200 Free Relay (Howard, Elam, Jones, and Ricketts) 1:42.08 and 200 Medley Relay (J. Witt, M. Howard, K. Elam, and E. Jones) 1:54.22 also made All-American team. Merced College finished 12th in the State with 125 points.

Great swims and best times were achieved by all the swimmers at the League meet. These are results that a coach looks and hopes for during the season. Every swimmer scored points for us and helped us win that title. Truly a team effort. "Congratulations to all my swimmers on a great season!" "You earned it League Champs", Coach Halpin.