In a close meet on Friday, the men’s swim team won decisively over L.A. Trade Tech College and gave Mt. SAC just about all it could handle but ultimately fell short 14 points over one of their biggest rivals.

Jonathan Diaz started off the final relay and built a quick lead, followed by Hogan Inscore and Mario Espinosa, but the final swimmer, Patrick Fink, found himself holding off a furious comeback from Mt. SAC’s best swimmer.

“The last guy for Mt. SAC was closing in really fast and Patrick held him off in the end,” Diaz said. “Everyone was cheering and going crazy.”

The race came down to the wire as the Warriors won by a tenth of a second.

EC was missing two swimmers, Matthew Fink and Dennis Kalthoff, due to illness but both are expected back for the next meet.

“They’re critical people,” coach Corey Stanbury said. “Missing two of your guys that provide some serious firepower might have made the difference but there is nothing you can do about it.”

Diaz had a good showing Friday, placing first in the 200 meter breaststroke and backstroke, as well as the 500 and 1,000 meter freestyles.

“We had a lot of good swims,” Diaz said. “We put up a good meet against Mt. SAC, who is one of our biggest rivals, and we dominated L.A. Trade Tech.”

The most heated race came last in the final relay.

EC started their best swimmers while Mt. SAC decided to save their best swimmer for the end. The Warriors’ plan was to build a sizable lead and they succeeded.

“It was so close I had to look at the scoreboard to see who won,” Stanbury said. “I couldn’t tell by watching the touch.”

The women’s team was able to defeat L.A. Trade Tech but lost handedly to Mt. SAC, who has some of the best women swimmers in the conference.

“We did fairly well and we got some of our best times,” Carlie Olney said.

The men’s team is now second place in the conference behind Mt. SAC.

“We’re going to have a very good chance at the conference championships,” Stanbury said. “Our goal is to win the title and send as many people as possible to state.”