Bad weather conditions, the lack of a swimming facility during the past month and a small team did not discourage the men’s swim team, that finished in 17th place at the Mt. SAC pentathlon.

The women managed to finish in 23rd place at the same meet, which took place last weekend.

The Warriors will host Cerritos and Chaffey tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. in what will be the reopening of the campus swimming pool.

The pool had to be closed earlier this season because of a drainage problem, but it will not affect any upcoming tournaments.

“I felt we had a real solid performance from everybody, especially under the conditions we (faced) last Friday,” coach Corey Stanbury said. “It was cold and raining, and we don’t wear very much that is going keep you warm.”

Neither the men nor the women were expecting to encounter such severe weather conditions.

“It’s always warm, sunny and pretty down here,” breaststroke and freestyle swimmer Lisa Odland said. “Especially in an indoor pool, we are just not used to that.”

The men’s top performer was 100-freestyle swimmer Tim Warnock, who had a time of 50.9 and placed 15th in his event.

“He doesn’t like the 100-butterfly, backstroke or two hundred individual-medley,” Stanbury said. “They had to rate all these swims against some guys who are individual medley specialists, and for him to be in the top 15 out of eighty guys is pretty good.”

Other strong performances by the men came from Mike Colavita in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:05 and Shon Page in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:08.

Colavita’s time ranked among the top five breaststroke times in the conference.

For the women’s team, Odland swam one minute even in the 100-yard breaststroke and placed within the top eight out of more than sixty swimmers.

This was her best flat start time to date: a flat start involves waiting for the beep to jump off the block and begin the race, as opposed to a relay start where swimmers can get a full second advantage.ÿ

The flu has also been circulating around the team, which resulted in many swimmers being unable to compete.ÿ

However, Odland believes that having such of a small team lends the opportunity to be a standout, but she also acknowledges the disadvantages as well.

“I have never been on another sports team here, but I think that of all the teams, just by observing, we would be the closest of all,” Odland said.ÿ

Odland said that she believes there are pros and cons to being on a small team.

“With a small team, we can bond with everyone and get to know everyone individually, but at the same time being so small, we are not as strong as the other teams, and we can’t get as many points.”

ÿHashim Tyler, freestyle swimmer, also appreciates the atmosphere of the team this semester.

ÿ”Encouragement is a lot better in my opinion,” Tyler said.ÿ “If the player is like ‘do it or else,’ it is different than actually saying ‘c’mon you can do it,’ and that’s what I like anyway.”

Building confidence in one another will help the team gel quicker in the long run, giving it momentum in the late-season meets.

“That’s how we are,” Tyler said.ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ

Since the pool was closed down last month, the team has been restricted to on-land exercises. ÿ

Some swimmers, however, appreciate the opportunity to engage in those out-of-water exercises.

ÿ”Sure, it didn’t give us some time in the water, but it gave us a chance to work other muscles,” Page said.

Other swimmers thought the team was at a disadvantage by not training in the pool during the time it was closed.

“Other colleges got to work out while we didn’t, and it threw the workout (schedule) off,” freestyle swimmer Mike Gavola said. “We were here all winter and then when the pools close you have to start from scratch.”

Despite the pool being closed, Gavola has had personal best performances at the last two meets.

In the 200-yard freestyle, Gavola recorded a time of 2:01 and currently set his best time for the 100-yard freestyle at 54.1.

ÿ”From high school (Redondo Union), I broke all my times. I shattered them basically, and it is only the beginning of the season,” Gavola said.

ÿStanbury said he recognizes that several of the newer swimmers are performing at a top level.

ÿ”Some of them did their lifetime bests and some of them swam events that they had never competed in their lives,” Stanbury said.

To make up for lost time from the pool being closed, Stanbury has formulated a rigorous schedule, which includes swimming approximately 10,000 yards a day.

“We were swimming some pretty good times in spite of getting pounded in workouts that week,” Stanbury said.ÿ “We didn’t hold back at all.”

ÿLone diver Carlos Siguenza, who has been diving alone since the other diver on the team was injured before the first competition, has not been hampered, finishing second on the one-meter board and first on the three-meter board.

There are between eight and 10 divers in the conference and to qualify for the state championships, Siguenza would have to place in the top six in the conference and regional championships, which take place toward the end of April.ÿÿ

“He probably has a very good chance of ending up the best diver in our conference,” Stanbury said. “Whether it translates into qualifying for the state championship, I don’t know.”