Lisa Odland was the only swimmer at the conference championships in Pasadena who qualified for the state championships.

The women’s team tied for fifth place with Pasadena during the South Coast Conference meet last weekend.Odland will travel to Saddleback which will host the state championships starting today and lasting through Saturday.

Some of the best performances at the conference meet were delivered by Kaela Stager in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 21:33.48. Alexandra Stumpf swam the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:31.20 and Lisa Odland swam the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:28.17.

“All season long, my best time for the 100-yard backstroke was 1:29 and I wasn’t shaved or tapered. I get shaved, and I get tapered and I do a 1:21,” Becky Savoia, 21, said.

Tapering is a technique in which swimmers give their bodies time to recover and shaving their bodies eliminates the drag of body hair.

Most of the swimmers on the team tapered for the conference championship meet to qualify for the state championships, but Odland delayed her taper, which raises the expectations of her doing well.

“She made it quite easily,” Corey Stanbury, swimming and diving coach, said. “She is the No. 5 seed in the state for the breaststrokes.”

The team’s fifth place finish came as somewhat of a surprise because of the number of larger teams that competed against EC.

“Just about everyone dropped their time,” Becky Savoia, 21, said.

Only the swimmers who are going to the state championship meet have to attend practices this week.

“Some of us will keep swimming until next year to stay in shape,” Sandra Tejeda, 21, said.

Savoia offered some words of encouragement for her teammates.

“I just hope they do well and stay focused,” Savoia said.