Crabtree closes season with historic splash
EL CENTRO — This swim season the men’s team from San Diego Mesa College made history as it swept through the regular season undefeated for its fourth conference dual-meet championship.
The team also added a third-consecutive Pacific Coast Athletic Conference title, followed by a fifth place finish at the California Community College Athletic Association State championships in early May.
Leading the way for the Olympians in the pool was El Centro native Brandon Crabtree.
Crabtree was tapped as this year’s CCCAA and PCAC Swimmer of the Year and also earned Performance of the Meet at the state championships after he broke a national junior college record in the 100 butterfly completing the event in 46.49 — more than two seconds ahead of the next finisher.
Considering he was battling the flu just one week prior to the state meet, Crabtree’s final junior college performance is that much more inspiring.
“That really changed my thinking in terms of motivation,” Crabtree said of getting sick. “Three weeks before state, I felt great. I hadn’t felt that good in the water in a very long time. I was breaking PR times at practice, and I felt great, so getting sick really hindered my motivation. But some friends and family kind of picked me up mentally and physically as well to get over the sickness, so before state, I was kind of nervous, but really fired up.”
As the state meet was spread over the course of three days, the 2014 Southwest High graduate had one individual event each day, breaking up the time he spent in the water, which worked to his favor.
The 22-year-old’s first event was the 50 freestyle, which has always been a strength of his, dating back to when he won a CIF-San Diego Section Div. II title in the event when he was only a sophomore at Southwest.
“The day before the start of state, I think I was at about 95 percent,” he recalled. “I was still congested in my chest and that was kind of scary because I really need my lungs.”
Despite some of his own concerns, Crabtree said he felt incredibly comfortable in the water by the time state began.
“The way I felt and my mental state of mind, I felt like nobody could stop me,” he said.
The 50 free preceded a few relay events as well as the 100 free and 100 fly, where Crabtree set a pair of new state records and a national record as well. In the 100 free, Crabtree broke the 44.02 time set in 2009 with a time of 43.83. In the 100 fly, Crabtree broke his own state record of 47.95 that he set in 2016 with the new time of 46.49 that set a new junior college national record as well.
Crabtree credited his mother and SD Mesa Head Coach Nathan Resch with helping him make a solid return to the water after a red-shirt 2017 season. Resch was also tapped for a state honor as he was awarded the Coach of the Year honor.
“(Resch) is one of the best coaches I’ve ever had in my life,” Crabtree said.
Crabtree and Resch worked together for just four month leading up to the state meet, leaving what the former Eagle feels is a lot of room for improvement.
“If these times are after just four months of training I can’t imagine what’ll happen if I start to train yearround,” he said.
Crabtree said this is what excites him most and will serve as a motivator as he is eying the 2020 Olympics. Crabtree already reached the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in 2016.
“I’m excited about that room of improvement that is still left, which hopefully means I can possibly go faster, and that’s what excited me the most,” Crabtree said.
Crabtree said he plans to continue training in San Diego this summer under David Marsh, who is the head coach at the University of California, San Diego and served as the women’s head coach for Team USA at the 2016 Rio Olympics.