The Santa Monica College men’s swimming and diving team has one of the college’s longest and most successful athletic traditions. The program currently trains at the Santa Monica Swim Center, whose competition pool is an Olympic-size 50-meter facility. Over the decades, SMC swimmers and divers have earned numerous conference titles, individual state championships and All-America honors, while many have continued their careers at four-year universities.

The program reached its greatest team achievement in 1987, when the Corsairs won the California community-college state championship under legendary coach John Joseph. Joseph coached swimming at SMC for 42 years, compiling a 453–125–2 dual-meet record, producing 308 All-Americans and recording 22 top-five finishes at the state meet. The 1987 championship team was led by Giuseppe Tiano, who set SMC records in the 100- and 200-yard backstroke and the 200 individual medley before transferring to UCLA. Joseph credited the title not just to Tiano but to the depth of the entire squad, with swimmers throughout the lineup scoring the points needed to secure SMC’s first state team championship.

Men's Swimming and Diving

Memories

Share this page

Tags

Details