By Tadzio Garcia
Fresh off winning their third double-dual meet in two years and their first at home in more than 15 years, the swim and dive team stunned top seeded Pasadena City College last week in a South Coast Conference meet.
The Huskies front quadrants outscored Pasadena by nine points with four events left in the meet then stayed even for the win.
The Huskies waited almost four hours for the meet to begin because Pasadena arrived at 2 p.m. for the 12:30 p.m. meet.
“They should have been here like everyone else. We were here at 10:45 a.m. and began to loosen up. We waited almost four hours to compete, which didn’t help us,” Denise Burrola said.
To pass time, Huskies Kimberly Morales, Yazandra Martinez and Jennifer Flores had fun with a synchronizing swim stunt they performed for the team.
“E-L-A-C, go Huskies,” echoed throughout the El Camino College swim stadium.
“We did it to get our minds off of the wait. When it came time to compete, we turned it off and focused,” Yazandra Martinez said.
“The late start affected the first relay,” Head Coach Erik Matheson said.
“The team was able to get ready both mentally and physically. It was a good learning experience. Meets don’t always run smoothly and top performances still need to happen,” Matheson said.
The Huskies beat Pasadena, 132-123 in a South Coast Conference dual meet and lost to host El Camino 151-116.
The key to the upset was the 500-yard freestyle. Ashley Jauregui, Christina Burrola and Veronica Orantes placed second through fourth, respectively.
Jauregui swam a personal record to edge Christina Burrola by 0.04 of a second.
“Continuing there seasonal-long time improvements, Jauregui and team captain Felicia Ballesteros each had two personal best records,” Matheson said.
Jauregui also recorded a personal best in the 100-yard butterfly.
Ballesteros swam personal records in the 50 and 100-yard backstroke events.
“I worked really hard all week to accomplish better times. I am also concentrating on my weakness, the butterfly, so I can score more points in the individual medley for the team,” Ballesteros said.
Also flying in with two personal records each were Christina Burrola (50 butterfly, 100-yard butterfly), Denise Burrola (200 and 500 freestyle events) and Karina Reyes.
Reyes’s personal record in the 100-yard breaststroke was the first time she swam under the two minute mark.
Not to be outdone, Kimberly Fierros swam a lifetime best in the 50-yard butterfly.
Alexandra Gonzales took three third places scoring nine points for the Huskies. Jacqueline Leal’s top finish a second place in te 50-yard breastroke.
Yazandra Martinez finished in fourth place in the 1-meter women’s diving also with a personal best with 102.3 points.
The Huskies and El Camino are tied for second place in the SCC with 3-1 records. Pasadena lost its third straight upset and dropped to 0-3 in conference play.
The Huskies host Cerritos and Chaffey colleges on Friday in an SCC double-dual meet at 12:30 p.m. in the swim stadium.