CYPRESS, CA - Cypress College bids the Men's and Women's Swim & Dive Head Coach, Larry Beidler, farewell after 50+ years on the pool deck. Beidler was hired as the full-time Head Coach of the Cypress Chargers aquatics program in 1996 after previously coaching various clubs and colleges at all levels since the age of 16.
Since 1996, Larry has coached hundreds of athletes, many of which have gone on to compete at the NCAA and NAIA levels. In recent years, some of these stand-out swimmers from the men's team have included Damon Chandler (2012), Mark Wyse (2017), Nathan Panter (2017), Brock Railey (2017), Brian Vo (2017), Weston Spoon (2019), all of whom have achieved all-time Cypress swim records. Wyse, Panter, Railey, and Vo broke three relay team records in the 2017 OEC Championship meet, demolishing a 42-year-old team record set in 1975 in the 400-yard free relay (3:10.28) by 1.4 seconds. Mark Wyse and Nathan Panter were key swimmers on the men's 200-yard medley relay team in 2017 with a time of 1:35.79. Mark Wyse also held two individual records in the men's 50-yard (20.80) and 100-yard (46.14) freestyle and was ranked 4th overall in the state in 2017.
On the women's team, Larry has coached swimmers such as Jacelyn Youngerman (2013), Ariel Burns (2016), Kiley Kendall (2016), Alejandra Gomez (2018), Kayleen Bretz (2018), and Megan Efseaff (2019) to state titles and record-breaking swims. In 2016, Ariel Burns and Kiley Kendall were named to the 2016 Two-Year College National Rankings List where Ariel was recognized as a 5 time All-American and Kendall was recognized as a 4 time All-American. In 2017, Kayleen Bretz was ranked 2nd overall in the state for the 1650-yard free. She also committed to swimming at Concordia in 2018 after setting new Cypress records in the 500-yard free (5:17.84) and the 1650-yard free (18:11.79) during her freshman season. Alejandra Gomez became the most decorated women's diver in Cypress College history with her performance at the 2018 CCCAA State Swim & Dive Championships. She repeated as the CCCAA State Champion on the 3-meter board and broke the state meet record on the 1-meter board to earn her third state title in two seasons. Gomez won what was believed to be the closest diving title in California Community College history with a score of 246.90. In 2019, Megan Efseaff qualified for the CCCAA State Championships and set a new Cypress swim record for the 100-yard back with a time of 1:01.10.
The Cypress Chargers family, present and past, wish Larry Beidler well and hope he enjoys a happy and healthy retirement.
Stay connected with the Chargers through social media. Follow Cypress College Athletics on Twitter @CypressChargers. Check in with the Chargers on Facebook/CypressChargers and on Instagram @CypressChargers.
