Lisa Odland is the only swimmer who has qualified for the state championships this season, which are scheduled for May 1-3.

At the Pasadena Invitational that took place April 11, she had the opportunity of improving her chances, as did the rest of the team, which is striving to qualify and compete at the state championships as well.

The invitational gave swimming and diving coach Corey Stanbury an idea of how to prepare for the conference championships, which will take place starting today and lasting tomorrow at Pasadena.

“The invitational helps me to figure out exactly who needs what kind of rest to prepare themselves for next week,” Stanbury said.

Top performances by the women at the invitational included Lisa Odland, who swam a time of 27:71 in the 50-yard freestyle; Erin Murphy, who swam a time of 34.31 in the 50-yard backstroke and Alexandra Stumpf, who swam a time of 1:20.47 in the 100-yard breaststroke.

“Personally, I did really well and the other swimmers beat a lot of their times,” Odland said. “It was more practicing for the conference which was good, we didn’t have any relays or anything.”

No one on the team has been fast enough to beat the time that automatically qualifies a swimmer for the state championships, but members of the team hope that they can shine at the conference meet, and have an opportunity at the state championships.

“I am hoping we will do pretty well at the conference championships,” Stumpf said. “I think a couple of the guys have a pretty good chance of making it to state and I hope I can make it to state, but I don’t know if I can.”

In addition to resting, the swimmers will hit the pool in training sessions to work on shaving time off their best times so far, and testing new swimming suits for the championship meet.

“They are going to get a certain amount of rest and a certain amount of speed work,” Stanbury said. “Swimmers have their bodies for the championship and I put them in the best swimming suits money can buy.”