DVC’s swim teams narrowly missed placing in the state championships April 23-25 at Belmont Plaza, finishing No. 4 among 40 qualifying junior colleges.

“It’s quite an accomplishment,” Millington said. “[It’s] always fun to win, but we didn’t have the numbers at the state meet.”

Sophomore captain Kim Bierwith broke state records in both the 50 free and the 50 butterfly, with her 50 butterfly time becoming a junior college national record.

“Not a lot of student athletes at DVC have a national record,” said head coach Rick Millington.

At the Big 8 Conference championships held on April 16-18, both the men’s and women’s team finished third.

“It’s not as good as we wanted to do,” Bierwith said. “We’ve had to deal with losing a lot of people throughout the year.”

Bierwith won all three of her events at the Conference championships, which helped her earn Swimmer of the Year for the second straight season.

But Bierwith is only one member of a very strong 2009 DVC swim team.

“We’re always in the top 10,” Millington said. “This has been a real fun group to coach.”

At the Conference championships, DVC pulled unexpected upset victories in the men’s 200-medley relay and the women’s 400 freestyle relay.

DVC swimming has 19 All-Americans, including eight men and 11 women.