Four women swimmers had all the support they needed to win the last event of their South Coast Conference meet against Pasadena City College, 64-57, Friday at EC.

Lisa Odland, Kaela Stager, April Murray, and Alexandra Stumpf were swimming in front of a home crowd as their family and friends were cheering them on for moral support and used that as motivation to swim to victory.

An added bonus for the Warriors was that it was their first meet of the year at their own home pool at EC.

The Warriors jump back into their own pool today as they host Long Beach City and L.A. Trade Tech.

The last event for the women’s team was the 400-yard freestyle relay.

The women said the victory was crucial for them to gain momentum heading into the tail end of the season and no one could have asked for a more dramatic ending than what the Warriors experienced in the pool Friday with Pasadena City College.

“It actually was a really close meet and it ended up coming down to our last relay,” freestyle swimmer Erin Murphy said. “If we didn’t win the relay, then we wouldn’t have won the event.”

Unlike many swim meets where the amount of swimmers on each team is often lopsided, Pasadena had the same number of swimmers as the Warriors did, which gave both teams an equal chance of winning.

This has typically been a problem for the Warriors, as most of the teams in the conference have more swimmers, which often makes it difficult for the Warriors to have a fair chance of winning.

The women’s coaches said the close victory over Pasadena City was impressive and gives them confidence heading into the stretch run of the season; the Warriors have three meets remaining in the season before beginning the SCC championships on April 18.

“I was pretty excited that the women won,” swimming and diving coach Corey Stanbury said. “It was a close meet all the way.”

The Warriors’ standout performances from the meet came from Kaela Stager in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 13:33.49 and Lisa Odland in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:12.35.

Erin Murphy finished the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 30.76, and Alexandra Stumpf placed in the 100-yard individual medley with a time of 1:12.36.

Stumpf’s day was particularly impressive as she shaved three seconds off her best time and Odland swam 0.2 of a second slower than her time from last year, which qualified for the state championships.

Odland, who swam in the medley relay, which set a record last year, is on the verge of qualifying for the state championships this year.

“I actually had some pretty good times,” Stumpf said. “I got my best time in the 100-yard freestyle event.”

Stanbury was proud of the women’s swim team, but he is remaining level-headed because of the remaining meets the team must compete in.

“I was pleased that the women were able to win the meet,” Stanbury said. “But was more pleased that they swam very well.”