By Tadzio Garcia
The women’s swimming team won a medal, for the first time since the 1990s on the first day of the 2014 CCCAA Swim and Dive State Championships May 1 in the Swim Stadium at ELAC.
Alice Ying Fei Zhang took the silver medal in the 100-yard individual medley behind champion Melissa Bergesen of Golden West College and as a result Zhang is All-American.
Golden West has a slim lead in the wome’s team competition with 138 total points, eight more than Diablo Valley College. ELAC is in a 15th place tie with Los Angeles Valley and San Diego Mesa colleges. Each scored 17 points.
Zhang was in fifth place at the end of the first half of the 100 IM. She gained speed in the last two laps with her two best events, the breaststroke and the freestyle.
On the last lap she moved up to third place. With her teammates cheering her on, Zhang won second place by 30/100’s of a second over Ashley Boyle of Santa Rosa Jnior College.
ELAC’s Wenning Shen placed No. 18 in the 100 IM. “She missed advancing to the consolation finals by 3/100’s of a second, but did good finishing with a personal record,” Susan Lai, ELAC second-year assistant coach, said.
“Both did a very good job today. Alice dropped two seconds in the morning heats and one more second in the finals,” ELAC Head Coach Erik Matheson said.
“Wenning hasn’t raced in four weeks, but anytime you drop time it’s a good day.” Shen will compete in the 50-yard backstroke on the second day of the finals. Zhang will compete in the 50 breaststroke as No. 5-seeded.
100-yard Individual Medley Medalists and alternates:
1. Melissa Bergesen 58.90* Golden West College
2. Alice Ying Fei Zhang 1:00.56* East Los Angeles College
3. Ashley Boyle 1:00.86* Santa Rosa Junior College
4. Arolyn Basham 1:01.04* Pasadena City College
5. Jenner Johnson 1:01.36 American River College
6. Claire Aguilar 1:06.60 Orange Coast College
7. Renae DiBartolomeo 1:01.64* Diablo Valley College
8. Elizabeth Rodgers 1:02.00* Sierra College
17. Lauren Tokunaga** 1:03.23 Santa Rosa Junior College
18. Wenning Shen** 1:03.24* East Los Angeles College
*Personal records
**Alternates
