By Kayla Boardman (@kaylarboardman ):
San Jose State swimming and diving has another record to be proud of. However, this new record doesn’t involve the athletes.
Swimming and diving head coach Sage Hopkins has reached an impressive milestone in his career this week and a first for the women’s swimming and diving team by entering triple digits in wins.
That’s right, in his 13th season as head coach he has reached 100 dual meet wins. The centuried win came Tuesday, but Wednesday, the Spartans were back in the water.
Win number 101 for Hopkins came Wednesday afternoon as the Spartans defeated UC San Diego 153-146 in La Jolla, Calif.
This brings his coaching career record with SJSU to 101-36-1.Hopkins says the credit should be distributed however, as he believes that recognition should be on the athletes who got him to the record wins.
“All of the credit for these wins go to the great swimmers and divers with which I’ve been honored to work over the past 13 seasons at SJSU,” said Hopkins to SJSU Athletics.
This season has shown how the coach was able to reach this career high. The team started off November by sweeping UC Santa Cruz and finished it by sending three swimmers to the U.S. Winter Nationals.
Another challenge that Hopkins has had to overcome recently is the renovation of the aquatics facility on campus. While it is under construction, the team must practice at another facility and cannot host home meets.
Instead of viewing it as an obstacle, the coach decided to view it as a chance to build his athletes’ strength and get them acclimated to always competing away from home. In the end, this leads to a more successful team.
With the record of 100 wins halfway through Hopkins’ 13th season, it will be interesting to see what record the swimming and diving team breaks next.