Tired, sore and beaten, they swam their hardest in the race because they know that all of the work will pay off when it really counts.

After hours of practice, the Warriors will compete at the Cuesta Invitational at San Luis Obispo for a half-day tomorrow and all day Saturday.

“It’s a big invitational, six hundred swimmers will be competing in the two days,” coach Corey Stanbury said.

Cuesta’s Invitational will host the top swimmers in California.

“Between the Mt. SAC and Cuesta invitationals, ninety percent of the best swimmers in California would have competed in them,” Stanbury said.

The Warriors don’t mind the long invitational because the team feels it makes everybody a better swimmer.

“Friendships are build at events like this (the Cuesta Invitational) and it pushes everybody to work a little harder so the whole team does better in competitions,” Matt Pifer said.

Coach Stanbury schedules 11 practices a week, one in the morning and in the afternoon.

“We were a little tired at our last meet, but they still did well and they know that the conference championship is the real goal for them to do good in,” Stanbury said.

The Warriors had their first three-team meet at Mt. SAC.

The men lost to Mt. SAC 90-41 and to Cerritos 80-51 while the women defeated Cerritos 85-46 but lost to Mt. SAC 81-50.

“Cerritos is usually a strong team, but they were mostly even with us,” Ashley Stanbury said.

Cerritos’ performance surprised Stanbury.

“I knew Mt. SAC had a lot of good swimmers and depth, so I knew we weren’t going to win,” Stanbury said. “Cerritos, though, seemed a little too energized and it’s a little unfair when a team comes out to a meet and doesn’t practice much before.”

The lack of practice of Cerritos won’t bother Stanbury much because he believes his swimmers will have better results in the conference finals.

“When that time comes, we will rest and come out in our best uniforms and will see who has the better swimmers,” Stanbury said